Look at an Object as if for the First Time

What the Method Is

The core instruction for this meditation method is: “See as if for the first time a beauteous person or an ordinary object”. This technique is a looking technique, aimed at cultivating a fresh, unconditioned perception of objects, persons, and experiences.

How It Is Done

To practice this meditation, the practitioner should undertake the following steps:

  • Choose any object or person: Select anything for observation, such as your home, a lock, your shoes, a beautiful person (like your wife), or any ordinary object.
  • Look without pre-conception: Direct your gaze upon the chosen object as if for the very first time. This means intentionally looking “without looking at it” in the habitual, automatic sense.
  • Avoid mental interpretation and verbalization: Do not interpret what you see, do not say anything about it, and do not bring your “past mind in”. This means refraining from labeling or judging what you see (e.g., thinking “it is beautiful” or “it is ugly”), as such words and projections act as barriers between you and reality.
  • Look, hear, and touch directly: Engage with the object or experience purely through your senses, allowing the reality to be revealed directly without intellectual interference. “Allow the face to enter itself”.
  • Cultivate a continuous attitude: Make this fresh way of looking a continuous attitude throughout your day, seeing “everything as if for the first time”. This also applies to other senses, such as touch: “Touch everything as if for the first time”.
Commentaries and Insights
  • The Loss of Fresh Perception: Osho explains that our “mechanical habits” of repeatedly interacting with things cause us to “lose the capacity to look” and “the freshness to look”. We become “basically blind” because our eyes are no longer truly needed for recognition in our routine lives.
  • Inspiration from Children’s Eyes: The ideal state of perception is likened to “children’s eyes” which possess “freshness, the radiant aliveness, the vitality” and look “mirror-like, silent, but penetrating”. Such innocent eyes are capable of penetrating deeper and accessing the inner world.
  • Regaining True Eyesight: The technique aims to help you “regain your eyesight”. Our current state is one of “blindness” where we have eyes but cannot truly see. This resonates with Jesus’s teaching: “Those who have eyes, let them see”, referring to this very quality of inner vision.
  • Freedom from the Past: Practicing this method allows you to be “freed from your past”—shedding its “burden, the depth, the dirtiness, the accumulated experiences”. By not allowing the past to “enter within you” or to be “carried,” you constantly “move from the past”.
  • Living in the Eternal Present: This liberation from the past leads to being “constantly in the present”. The present is described as “the door” to existence, and all meditations ultimately aim to bring you to “live in the present”. This new perception allows you to truly understand Heraclitus’s saying that “you cannot step twice in the same river,” as everything is in constant flux, always new.
  • Entering Existence and Self: When you are freed from the past and perceive the present, you “will enter the existence” and “into its spirit”. This “entry will be double: you will enter into everything, into its spirit, and you will enter into yourself also”.
  • Transformation of Reality: Through this technique, you will be “surprised at what a beautiful world you have been missing”. Things that have become “old” due to familiarization will suddenly appear “new”. This includes personal relationships; looking at a beloved person “as if for the first time” can make you “feel again the same love you felt the first time, the same surge of energy, the same attraction in its fullest”.
  • Role of Words and Projections: Words and mental projections (like “beautiful” or “ugly”) are identified as barriers that “destroy everything” and “change the very meaning” of reality. They distract from the direct experience. The goal is to perceive with “less words” to create “less barriers,” ideally reaching a state of “no words” where “no barriers” remain.
  • Simplicity and Arduousness: While the instruction seems “simple” and “without any danger”, Osho emphasizes that it is not easy to execute. It is “very arduous” when truly attempted because it challenges ingrained mental habits. It is not a “mental trick”, but a profound method that touches fundamental realities.
  • Focus on the “Dreamer”: This technique helps to shift awareness from the perceived “dream” (the external world and its interpretations) to the “dreamer” (your inner observer/seer). By detaching from the objects of perception and judgments, you move towards realizing “the observer, the seer, the one who is aware”. This directly connects to Tantra’s emphasis on finding your “real center”.