Field Note #7 Receiving the World
Jul 21, 2026We often think of perception as something that belongs to individual senses.
Our eyes see.
Our ears hear.
Our nose smells.
Our skin feels.
But for quite some time now, I've begun wondering if these senses are not separate systems at all, but different windows through which awareness meets the world.
Perhaps awareness itself is much larger than we imagine.
One simple way to begin exploring this is to allow each sense to extend beyond the organ we usually associate with it.
Most of you have experienced this through a full body sage cleanse with smoke.
It is not simply the olfactory system that perceives this, but you can feel it through your whole being.
Or likely you have stood beside a river or beneath a waterfall where listening wasn't only something your ears were doing, but something your whole body seemed to experience?
What happens if sunlight isn't only something we look at...
but something we receive throughout?
These aren't techniques.
They're invitations.
Small shifts in attention that open entirely different qualities of experience.
Recently another question has been with me.
What if the waters of our body are not simply something we carry...
What if they are part of the medium through which we perceive?
Water is responsive.
It reflects.
It receives.
It adapts.
It flows.
It emits.
As I began experimenting with meeting the world through the waters of my own being, something changed.
One day I wondered what it would be like to meet one of my horses this way.
Rather than approaching through thought...
or expectation...
I simply allowed myself to meet her through the quiet, responsive waters within me.
Her response surprised me.
She turned and looked right at me... she immediately recognized the quality of the meeting itself.
Not because of anything I did...
but because of the way I arrived.
That simple moment has stayed with me.
It continues to shape how I meet people, animals, plants, and places.
More recently, on retreat and within workshops in Bacalar, I found myself experimenting again.
Rather than trying to analyze every concept or remember every word, I wondered...
What would happen if I allowed the learning to arrive through my waters?
Instead of grasping...
I immersed.
Instead of collecting ideas...
I received.
The experience was completely different.
The understanding seemed to arrive more slowly...
but more deeply.
I've also become increasingly curious about the remarkable systems within the body that support awareness and responsiveness.
Many people are familiar with the endocannabinoid system through its role in balance and regulation.
(link below)
I find myself wondering whether it may also participate in something broader—our innate capacity to receive, respond, and participate with the living world.
For now, I'm simply calling this an exploration of our "awareness system".
Not as a conclusion.
As an inquiry.
As always, these Field Notes aren't intended to provide answers.
They're invitations to experiment.
Field Invitation
On your next walk...
Pause beside a tree.
Rather than simply looking at it...
Wonder what it would feel like to meet it through the waters of your being.
Or choose another sense.
Listen with your whole body.
Receive the scent of a flower with your whole body.
Allow sunlight to be received rather than simply seen.
Don't try to make anything happen.
Simply notice.
You may discover that awareness is far more spacious than you once imagined.
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Here is the link to the podcast I listened to about the endocannabinoid system:
