Silent Sightseeing – Awareness Compassion Pancakes

P.s. Feel Free

The paradox of a restriction making me feel free, inspired me to write this P.s. to my post A Silent Perspective.

The 2 hours of Silent Sightseeing guided by Bastian Overgaard reminded me, that awareness and selfobservation are key to understanding, that the thoughts in our heads do not define who we are. They are thoughts – thats all! And we are all free to agree or disagree with them, and free to choose our own actions in response.

Being restricted to silence very quickly made me aware of how often my thoughts just turn into speech. The urge to react to my own thoughts by saying something became crystal clear, and having to stop myself from speaking changed my focus and gave room for awareness.

“When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking. When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice — the thinker — but the one who is aware of it.

Knowing yourself as the awareness behind the voice is freedom.”

– Eckhart Tolle

This is the point, that the silent experience reminded me of. And yes, we do need to be reminded. Well, at least I do!

There is a big difference between knowing something to be true – because you have read and understood it – and then experiencing it to be true. And sometimes we forget a little..

Inspired by silence and feeling free – let me end this post with another quote;

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

– Jean-Paul Sartre

With freedom comes responsibility…

Wondering about the flowers in my hair? I felt free!

A Silent Perspective

2 hours of Silent Sightseeing in Copenhagen, guided by the inspiring and talented Bastian Overgaard was a unique experience.

The idea of sightseeing in silence might strike you as odd, but the silence makes the seeing and the sensing much more intense, and it gives you a different perspective. A silent perspective.

When you choose to be silent in a group it differs a lot from just being silent on your own. As Bastian explained it; an intelligent silence arises.

What might be experienced as a restriction – you are not allowed to speak – turnes into a synergy in the group and you feel free to take in the world around you, and become one with reality.

Silence is a great doorway to awareness, and the sightseeing makes you observe. You observe the things around you, but most important you observe your self. Awareness is the key, and silence is a great tool.

Walking the streets of Copenhagen in a group – in silence – made us all feel like spectators, watching the everyday play of life.

This afternoon was a bit special though. It was election day in Denmark, so the focus of our sightseeing was the area around the Parliament building. The place was buzzing with people, journalists and politicians, and gave me mixed feelings of pride and gratitude for our democracy, combined with an outrage against the methods used in the political campaigns.

My 2 hour role as a silent spectator made me think of a Shakespeare quote;

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

Thank you Bastian for inspiring A Silent Perspective!

Let me share with you a few pictures from the sightseeing;