AN EVERYDAY PANORAMIC EXPERIENCE

Parent Page : The Practical Panorama

Seeing and hearing everything, the background and the changes, as openly as a new born child would – before they learn to filter out the mundane, background, everyday occurrences – is an essential first step.

But above the background smell and crackle of coffee and wood fire, your dog is still able to smell or hear an intruder.

But this spontaneously becomes the background, as soon as a squirrel or bird appears. It's all the sudden changes which grab our attention, and the more unpredictable or sudden it is, the more we notice it.

It's this openness to anything quick which is happenening within the panoramic field which is vital for an animals' survival, the background is largely irrelevant.

The birds flying, squirrels running, the nearby chaotic flies, flashes of light and cats eyes at night, these are the things which catch the attention.

And then (as long as you don't focus selectively on anything) you are able to notice several things moving quickly at the same time.

On a gentle day, the trees and bushes swaying in the wind are regular and predictable. They are safe. If nothing special is moving, i start listening. I notice everyday sounds which incorporate change, like bird song, rain, or the wind and rustling leaves in the undergrowth.

Everyday sounds can be beautiful and very relaxing, for humans and probably animals. But these constant or rhythmic stimuli are the background sounds. For animals, listening to the background can be a dangerous distraction.

It's being ready and waiting for things which aren't there yet. It's when there's a sudden unexpected change – a crunching of leaves or a change in the bird song – that it's vital for animals to notice and react.

And by being panoramically aware, when something unpredictable happens i notice it straight away – anything sudden, a car door slamming, a church bell ringing, often a bird on the periphery or from behind a building, flying into sight.

And it happens quite naturally and spontaneously. When watching and listening panoramically, the background fades away, and it's only the sudden changes and movements which we notice.

It's on busy days, that i realise something is happening which is nothing like what i do with focused vision, watching 2 or 3 birds at the same time, and then a squirrel jumps from a tree... for a split second i'm only aware of the new event, the squirrel – i don't focus on him directly, but i know my mind has recognised "squirrel" and for a short while afterwards i am still aware of the place where he's sitting, while continuing to watch the 3 birds. And when the birds have flown by, then i notice the bushes swaying gently again.

It's always the quicker things which dominate the attention... the miniature flies dancing chaotically right up close... but when there's a cloud of little flies, and they move around in the same place, then they become regular, predictable, background, and even though they are very close, i start to see straight through them.

I sense the quick unpredictable things, and the more unpredictable and quicker they are, (or larger so generally nearer) the more noticeable they are.

This is my experience and it just seems so sensible and appropriate that animals would need to sense like this in order to survive.

Back to Chapter One : The Animal Teachings
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