Blindman’s-buff
Knowing that direct experience often tends to be a far better
teacher than mere discussion or book learning, a spiritual guide
selected four of his students for a sort of field trip. He had arranged
to pick each of them up at the person’s home, and as soon as one of
these individuals got in the teacher’s vehicle, the guide handed the
person an air-filtering mask with elastic band, several ear plugs, and,
finally, a cloth blindfold, indicating that the three items should be
donned when instructed to do so.
When all four students had been prepped for their excursion in
the foregoing way, the teacher began to outline the nature of the
exercise. At an appropriate time, each student would be taken to an
object of some kind, and the student’s task was to identify whatever
mystery entity might be presented to that person.
The air-filter, augmented by recent technological breakthroughs,
was intended to eliminate, for the most part, any sense of smell. The
ear plugs, which were industrial strength, took care of any sounds
that might assist a person to identify an object. The blindfold,
although neither enhanced by modern science nor of industrial
strength, was an effective means for keeping vision in the dark. Only
the sense of touch was left unencumbered.
The teacher assured each of the students that nothing associated
with the task placed them at risk, and, in addition, he would be by
the student’s side throughout the exercise to help the students
navigate through unknown surroundings. Moreover, the teacher
indicated that a person should reserve any judgment she or he might
have concerning the identity of an object until they all returned to
the teacher’s residence for a debriefing period with respect to the
field trip.
Finally, since each individual was to be taken, alone, to an area
where something to be identified was located, the teacher asked the
students not to try to speak to one another while waiting in the
vehicle for the guide and a given student to return from an object
identification run. Because, soon, they were to place plugs in their
ears, talking with one another would be pretty difficult, if not
impossible, but the teacher wanted to make certain that everyone
understood the ground rules and not be tempted to swap information
about their respective experiences.
The group drove for about 20 minutes before the time for the
first stop was beginning to approach. When they were about fifteen
minutes away from the initial destination, the teacher told the
students to get ready to put their equipment on, but before they did
this, he explained to them that when the vehicle finally stopped, he
would tap the person who was to come with him on the right
shoulder, help that individual out of the car, and the others were to
just stay put until the two returned.
Eventually, the vehicle stopped. The teacher tapped the first
person on the shoulder, and, per instructions, he helped this person
out of the vehicle, locking things up before the two went on their way.
The teacher and the student walked for a few minutes, slowed
somewhat by the caution and fear which accompanied the student’s
loss of senses. Since the way to wherever they were going was
punctuated with a number of turns to the left and the right, the
student was pretty disoriented by the time the two arrived at the site
of the object.
The teacher guided the student to the object to be identified,
placing the student’s hands on the object. The blindfolded individual
began to feel about, searching for clues through which to identify the
object.
The student could feel lots of metal, as well as hard rubber. The
shape of the rubber portions were round, while the metal shapes
varied in form – although there seemed to be some overall pattern to
the way the metal shapes repeated themselves.
Several, bar-like pieces rose from the metal attached to the
rubber aspects of the object, as if the bar-like features were
connected to something else. However, if the bar-like portions were
part of some larger entity, the student couldn’t tell, because he was
not tall enough to reach the end of wherever the bar-like pieces were
heading – assuming, of course, they went anywhere.
The student was pretty sure the round rubber portions were tires
of some kind, but due to the way this part of the object was
configured, there appeared to be a number of the round rubber
portions which were linked together. The arrangement seemed
somewhat like some of the big tractor-trailers he had seen, and,yet,
different.
After a number of minutes had passed, the teacher gently
grabbed the student gently by the elbow and led him away from the
object and back to the vehicle. The teacher helped the student back
in, got in himself, and drove away.
They drove for another 20 minutes and stopped for the second
step of the field trip. Once again, the spiritual guide tapped one of the
students on the right shoulder and proceeded to disembark with the
student in tow, locking the vehicle as they did.
Following a further five minutes, or so, of walking this way and
that, the two arrived at the pre-selected destination. The teacher led
the student to a set of stairs and leaned down to help the student
place his right foot on the first step.
Proceeding slowly, the two walked up a series of stairs. There
were, maybe, 14 steps in all, and the angle of ascent was steep, but
relatively manageable -- although the stairs seemed to shake
somewhat as they went from one level to the next.
At the top of the stairs was a flat area, and this seemed either
connected to, or close to another surface that had a slope or slant to
it. After the student had been helped to step onto the second,
somewhat sloped surface, he was touched by his teacher in a way
which suggested that the student had arrived at his object and should
begin to explore the object.
The student walked along with her hands in front of her trying
to find parts of the object, but there was nothing there. Every so
often, the teacher would gently take her by the shoulders, as if he
were in back of her, and induce her to move in another direction. On
some of these occasions, it seemed to the student that the surface on
which she was walking was beginning to slope downward more.
This went on for a few minutes. A thought occurred to the
student that whatever the object to be identified might be, the surface
on which she was walking was a primary component of that object.
As a result, she kneeled down and began crawling along the
surface, feeling ahead of her as she went along. It seemed to have the
coolness of a metallic-like surface, but, in addition, the metal felt as
if it had a coat of polished or varnished paint on it.
She also noticed that, in places, the surface on which she was
crawling seemed to have more give to it than in other areas, as if
some portions of the metallic, painted surface were suspended,
somehow, in air. Along one boundary area of the surface on which
she was sometimes crawling and sometimes walking, the surface
beneath her seemed to meet up with another metal surface that
sloped up and away from the portion with which she had been
largely preoccupied.
At this point, the teacher gently took her by the elbow, turned
her around, and guided her back to the place with the steps. They
carefully descended, walked back to the vehicle, and got ready to
travel again.
This time, they drove for about 10 minutes – although, naturally,
it was very hard for any of the students to really know how long they
had been riding along before they stopped again. Once more, the
teacher selected one of the students and went about taking that
individual to the designated area.
At one point, they walked along a surface which sloped slightly
downward, before sloping upward again. This part of the walk
seemed to on a surface which vibrated, a little with each step the two
took, as if it were a temporary structure of some kind.
Eventually, they came to a passage way, door, or narrow opening
-- the student was uncertain which, if any, of these it might be . The
student suspected one of these three possibilities because they had to
go single file, and when they did, he brushed against something on
both sides of him as he went through whatever it was.
His teacher guided him to the right as they got through the
relatively tight space. After taking a few steps, the teacher stopped
the student, and, then, placed the student’s hands in front of him,
encouraging the student to explore whatever was there.
Initially, the student felt a fabric of some sort. The top of the
object was at about his lower chest level.
He followed the fabric down some two or three feet, whereupon
it reached an area which proceeded out at right angles for a couple
of feet, before sloping downward. This lower portion seemed to work
its way back into the object, and beneath this part was an empty
space and, then, the floor, which seemed to be carpeted.
On either side of the area of the object which was at right angles
to the upright portion he first had been exploring, there were several
padded areas that also were at right angles to the upright portion.
The student’s impression suggested the object was some kind of
fancy seat or easy chair.
He had a sense there might be other, similar seats or chairs in the
immediate area for when he had been examining the object to which
he had been directed, he briefly leaned up against other objects
which appeared to be very much like the one he was examining.
Fleeting thoughts of a theater of some kind or, maybe, a lounge area
passed through his head.
The guide signaled to the student via the latter’s elbow that the
assignment was over, and the two worked their way back to the
vehicle. Soon, they were on the road again.
They traveled a further fifteen minutes before coming to a rest.
The final student was tapped on the shoulder, and the two left the
vehicle heading toward the mystery object.
When they got to the desired location, the teacher placed the
student’s hands on the object. Immediately, she began exploring the
object, although she noticed that the teacher kind of hung on to her,
as if to make sure she didn’t get into trouble by going in the wrong
direction.
For the most part, the teacher encouraged her to stay in one
place. As she began feeling around with her hands.
The surface was metallic and seemed to slope upwards on two
sides. It felt warm, as if either the sun had been shining on it, or as
if it were connected, in some way, to machinery or an engine.
Moreover, she felt like there was a vibration being radiated through
the object she were touching.
The woman was permitted to feel around a bit more, and, then,
she was stopped by the teacher. They returned to the vehicle, got in,
and they drove back toward their spiritual guide’s house.
When they arrived at their teacher’s residence, the teacher
removed their ear plugs and instructed them to take off their
blindfolds and the air-filter masks. Following this, they got out of the
vehicle and went into the house.
Earlier, the teacher had prepared some refreshments for this
occasion, and after the students were seated, he brought out the
treats, placing them within easy reach of the four and took a seat
nearby. The students helped themselves to whatever they liked.
When everyone was comfortable and settled, the teacher asked
each of the student’s about his or her experiences and what each
thought about the identity of the objects to which she or he had been
brought. The accounts followed the order in which students had been
selected during the field excursion.
After the students had finished their descriptions and given their
impressions and guesses concerning the identity of the objects to
which they had been led, the teacher nodded his head in appreciation
of all that had been experienced and discussed. He looked at each of
the students and smiled somewhat mischievously.
He said: “I’m afraid I have played a bit of a trick on all of you.
In truth, you all were exploring different aspects of the same object.
“All the driving around was just a diversion. I merely took
different routes away from, and back to, the same parking lot we
stopped at the very first time.
“Furthermore, the other precautions which I took were, in part,
to protect the nature of the diversion. And, in part, they were thrown
in to help you become disoriented with respect to what was going on.
“However, I also tried to set things up so that you would be
forced to engage experiences in non-usual modes. The methodology
I used hopefully helped induce each of you to approach things in a
way that you might not ordinarily do, and, therefore, possibly, help
you to start reflecting on your experiences in a non-habitual manner.
Having confessed to the deception, their spiritual guide asked:
“So, you now all have heard the experiences which each of you have
had. What do you think the object was?”
The students all proffered a few guesses. The teacher smiled
throughout the process.
At various points, the students broke into heated debates about
the nature of the object, using the collective evidence which had been
gathered to support or refute various opinions. When the student
suggestions and discussions came to an end, they looked to him with
eager anticipation to see if any of them had been correct.
He began by indicating: “None of you were completely right,
although some were nearer the mark than were others. In point of
fact, the object in question was a commercial airliner. I had made
arrangements with an air-executive friend of mine to be able to
conduct this experiment.
“If each of you thinks back, I believe you will be able to deduce
which parts of the plane you were led to for exploration. However,
the identity of the object is not the most important facet of this whole
affair.”
He surveyed the faces of his students and inquired: “So, what’s
the principle at work here?”
The students were absorbed in contemplation with respect to
their teacher’s question. After some time, one of the more perceptive
student’s said: “Just as all of our understandings of the one object –
in this case, a commercial jet liner – were shaped by our individual
experiences of that plane, so, too, all of our understandings of God
are shaped by our individual experiences with, through, and by
Divinity.”
The teacher shook his head in the affirmative, and said: “Yes,
this is right, but I’m going to toss your answer back at you with a bit
of a curve on it.”
Looking, briefly, at each student in turn, before speaking, he,
finally said: “What if I were to tell you that all through this
experiment, each of you had been in a state of self-hypnosis and that
the events you thought you were experiencing never actually
happened in quite the way you allowed yourselves to believe?”
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