On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious

by Douglas E. Harding

As the animal and infant of Stage (1), you were unselfconscious: all your arrows of attention were aimed outwards: you overlooked your presence. As the child of Stage (2), you probably were from time to time truly Self-conscious; on those occasions an arrow of attention was turned inward also, and it hit the mark: you saw your Absence - accidentally as it were. But more and more your inward-pointing arrows fell far short of that mark: instead of getting through to the central Absence-of-any-body they got stuck in the peripheral presence of a very human somebody. As the adult of Stage (3), and falsely self-conscious, you went on aiming your arrows of attention at that insubstantial some-body, at that human appearance of yours which daily became more substantial for you, and soon was your identity card, your identity itself. (Forged card, mistaken identity!) And now, as the seer of Stages (4) and (5), you are again truly Self-conscious: but this time you penetrate that ring of appearances more deliberately and consistently, and begin to rest in What they are appearances of, in your Reality, which is your true Identity, your Presence-Absence, your Core and Source.