ANCIENT CULTURES and PANORAMIC SENSING
Some ancient cultures recognised the possibility of using the senses in their panoramic capacity. I feel there must be many more examples of this, please contact me if you know any.
I imagine many of these traditional practices originated from observing animals, but none i have found suggest this. Animals are the living example and proof that it works. They are there for everyone to learn from directly, all the time.
Many Youtube videos appear to be made by people who have only done it a few times. This shows how easy it is to do.
Dadirri
Among the Australian aborigines it is called Dadirri : "Simply sit and look at and listen to the earth and environment that surrounds you."However in the explanations i have read, there is always an emphasis on focusing. "Focus on something specific, such as a bird, a blade of grass, a clump of soil, cracked earth, a flower, bush or leaf, a cloud in the sky or a body of water, whatever you can see."
I believe this 'focusing on specific things' is a modern development.
Source: creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture
Tao and Zen
Advanced martial arts combine focused and panoramic perception – i don't know if or how they cultivate pure panoramic perception.It must be the original idea behind the Taoist and Zen practice of "Staring at Walls". A blank wall is ideal to focus on, as a bridge to panoramic seeing.
The Chinese and Zen idea of "seeing without looking – hearing without listening" expresses it wonderfully. (I think it's a quote from Bodhidharma but from where?).
In Taoist and Zen literature, i believe it is meant by the term 'just sensing'...
However these last two quotes are always understood as a shift in psychological perspective to higher states of consciousness; they are never associated with how animals use their everyday senses.
Once you've experienced panoramic sensing, i think you'll agree that 'just sensing' is a very good description.
Wide Angle Vision
The North American Indians called this wide angle vision.Jesuit
Praxis des Herzensgebets
Andreas Ebert, Peter Musto, Claudius Verlag, Munchen 2013
This book appears to be only available in German. I haven't done a complete analysis, but it uses panoramic awareness to open the mind as a prelude to focused meditations on the marks of the crucifix, the name "Maria", and other mystical practices. It is claimed these practices were used by 'the desert fathers', the early Christians.
See also: modern psychological research.
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