¶ … stood still by a large fountain in a public square and did nothing for ten minutes. I used as many senses as possible to intake information from the world around me as objectively as possible, letting go the temptation to judge or analyze what was going on. The sounds were the first thing I noticed: the occasional cry of a baby or high-pitched voice of a child; the subtle murmurs of intimate conversations; the constant hum of city noise from traffic; and natural sounds like the wind as it hit objects, blew leaves on the trees, and set aloft pieces of trash.
Turning my attention toward the sights around me, the whole square seemed alive and pulsing. There were pigeons and crows going about their daily business, the pigeons seemingly doing nothing but waddling around and flying away when a person would get too close, and the crows pecking at garbage, perching on poles, and sometimes squawking. Without actively watching, in order to preserve the integrity of the "beginner's mind," I simply gazed impassively at the people around me. I could feel more than I could see the eyes on me, wondering why there was...
I was not using my phone or reading anything, and I imagined I may look strange to them and thought about what people were thinking. Yet I pushed away those thoughts as soon as they arose, to maintain as clear a mind as possible. I saw how many different pairs of shoes there were on the streets, and how many different types of clothing and unique outfits people wore. The sheer variety of colors around me became more astonishing by the second. Some people wore only black, while others wore vibrant colors. Shifting my gaze to the sidewalks, streets, buildings, trees, and sky, I saw that the entire world was filled with color and light.
Then I started to realize the importance of smells. The smell of fried fast food wafted to my nose, and it was strong, pungent, and unwelcome. I resisted the urge to move, which is what I would have done if I was not doing the experiment. Instead, I observed the way I felt while smelling the smell and realized that it invoked a sense of revulsion in me as I considered what a body goes through when digesting such material. I smelled…
