Concept
Observer
Notice irritation rising and there seems to be a little distance between the feeling and the one who sees it. “Observer” is a name for that apparent standpoint within experience. It can be useful because a thought or emotion that is seen does not have to carry us away at once.
The useful distance becomes a deeper question when the observer itself is examined. Is it a separate self, a temporary function of attention, or something deeper than personality? Jiddu Krishnamurti presses the question further: if the observer is built from memory, judgment, and past experience, it may not be separate from what it observes.
This is why the observer connects psychological noticing with non-dual inquiry and critiques of inner division. Each begins with the possibility of seeing experience clearly. They separate over whether clarity requires a witness, reveals one, or dissolves the division between watcher and watched.
Words used here
Plain meanings for words on this page.
observer
A way of speaking about the part of experience that can notice thoughts and feelings. Traditions disagree about whether this observer is ultimately a separate self, a temporary function, or something deeper.
awareness
The capacity to notice experience—thoughts, sensations, feelings, perceptions—without immediately becoming lost in them.
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Jiddu Krishnamurti
Person
Carl Jung
Person
Awareness
Idea
Sources
What this reading rests on
Freedom from the Known
original work
Krishnamurti examines whether the psychological observer is actually separate from the thoughts and feelings being observed.