Douglas Harding says : “Nearly everybody lives and dies thinking this is a face to face situation. In all the languages of the world this is a face to face situation.
Now, I really look and I see that never for a millionth of a second have I faced anybody in my whole life. It has always been face there to space here for that face. If I could see my face now along with yours it would be a melange of both of them, a soup. I wouldn’t be able to see either of them. It’s unimaginable, the face to face situation. It’s quite unimaginable.
And yet, in all languages, face to face. Nobody ever questions that. Well, my job is to question it, and say it’s not only stupid, it’s damaging—because it’s confrontation. Look at the news, look at the papers, and see what is happening. We were doing a workshop in Israel a month or so ago and we nearly got bombed. Face to face, confrontation. It’s never face to face. The 1st Person has never ‘faced’ anyone. It’s always been space for that face over there. This is so obvious. It’s asymmetrical, not symmetrical.”