The Observer

I will not pretend that I have access to a reality separate from the moment, that I am somehow detached and able to observe from a neutral, non-partisan position. Neutrality is only a matter of degree and can be an illusion. I am always a part of, a participant. Even the act of observing impacts and affects that which is observed. Just by being in a situation, even if I do not feel myself to be participating, I affect it.

I take responsibility for my effect.

The observer is part of the process so that we experience as well as experiment. You have a larger view of life if you have a scientific view of nature as well as a view of the machine of nature. (The purpose) is to live more fully, to perceive more fully instead of just studying nature. And. of course, at the end of the day it comes back to us because we are the observer, there’s no one else. I can’t look at the world in any other way than through my own eyes. So I’m part of what I’m looking at. Scientific objectivity in terms of looking away from ourselves at the external world is no longer viable. We are part of our own picture.

Richard Dixey, The Soul and the Universe