As I See It: Articles, selected by Richard Lang

About this book

Douglas Harding is best known for his book On Having No Head, and for the development of his 'headless way experiments' – awareness exercises that enable anyone to see Who they really are–the boundless Single Eye that we are all looking out of and that includes everything... As well as writing many books, Harding also wrote many articles. The collection of articles in As I See It, arranged in chronological order, span the period of Harding’s life (1909–2007) from the early 1940s to the late 1990s. As I See It is not a collection of all of Harding’s articles but of those not in print elsewhere. As you’ll see from the articles in this collection, his focus changed over the years. In the ‘50s he was still drenched in the ideas he had presented in The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth, so in early articles he’s primarily focused on the many-levelled living universe, including the existence of ‘angels’—hopefully that piques your interest! Then in the ‘60s come articles where he is simplifying his approach and language, focusing more directly on the experience of Seeing—though awareness of the sacred, many-levelled living universe is never far from the surface. Harding was also now sharing Seeing with a growing number of people—a loose-knit circle of Seeing friends was emerging. (The article Spontaneous Awakening describes the first time Harding really shared Seeing.) After a ‘winter’ of more than twenty years alone with Who he really was, sharing Seeing with others and receiving such encouraging feedback came like a surge of exhilarating spring energy in Harding’s life. In the ‘70s, increasingly being asked to give workshops, Harding found himself developing his experiments—the ‘skilful means’ that make sharing Seeing so quick and easy. Harding also explored the implications of Seeing in a variety of in the field of psychology—as a remedy for alienation, depression, fear and anxiety; in the field of politics—as a remedy for the conflict between nations, power blocs, races... And Harding’s profound respect for and love of Christ—he was raised in the fundamentalist Plymouth Brethren—is obvious in Harding’s List.Read these articles in chronological order or jump about randomly... My hope is that each will guide you along a unique path to the Home you never left, the clear frameless Window you are looking out of now—this wider-than-wide single Eye; this boundless, infinitely charming, incomparable No-face; this so so still and peaceful Hub of the always-busy world... (From the Preface, written by the editor, Richard Lang.)