by Sverre Andreassen
On this day, my eyes fell upon a green vase right in front of me. I must have possessed this piece a long time, but never really examined it. Having nothing else to do, my eyes studied the vase in detail. I could imagine the person that once had designed it and perhaps even made it by hand. And suddenly, in a flash, I realized its beauty. This was almost like a shock. I had had this vase all along but hardly noticed it. Yes, it was truly beautiful. I imagined that I could see the intentions of its designer, and could feel his or her message to the world. And the message was now delivered to me, finally.
With this realization came a rush of thoughts. At this moment I was truly clairvoyant. I had seen something that was hidden. I felt as if I had penetrated the superficial veneer of my ordinary life and uncovered a mystery. I was able to see --the now obvious.
In the mathematics of spiritual development, the most important function seems to be subtraction, not addition. The work we do is to remove the obstacles that are blocking our view. our fears, illusions and misconceptions. Essentially, what we are doing is moving towards the elegance of simplicity. Finding a moment of quietness within is the key to seeing the obvious.
Sometimes we are led to believe that we have to develop abilities or gain access to hidden knowledge possessed by people further along the path than ourselves. In other words, we are struggling to add something we don't already have. It is my belief that we cannot add anything of value. Even if somehow we should succeed in the process of addition, of developing abilities or powers, our creations would be useless artifacts that eventually would have to be put away.
Whatever we add will be another illusion. If anything is added, it is by the paradoxical process of subtraction, by removing something that is hiding the truth.
So clairvoyance is simply the ability to see what is, without obstacles, illusions or fear. What else could it be?