The Illusion of the Observer: A Hypnotherapeutic Journey Toward Freedom

Seeing Through the “Watcher” and Finding Peace in Pure Awareness

(Inspired by Buddhist teachings on non-self — notably the Bāhiya Sutta and the Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta — and re-interpreted through the lens of hypnotherapy and mindful healing.)

1. The One Who Watches

Close your eyes for a moment.

Notice your breath.

And quietly ask yourself: Who is noticing this breath?

At first, it feels as if someone is sitting inside, watching — an inner witness.

But if you look more closely, you’ll see that what appears is just another thought about watching.

And behind that thought, yet another awareness notices. It never ends.

This is the illusion of the observer — like facing two mirrors that reflect each other into infinity, we chase a self that cannot be caught.

2. How the Self Is Built

In hypnotherapy, we often explore identification — how we attach “I” and “mine” to every experience.

“I am anxious.”

“I am angry.”

“I am not enough.”

The Buddha described this long ago: when we take body, feelings, thoughts, or consciousness as me or mine, suffering (dukkha) begins.

Each identification becomes a knot — a place where energy tightens and the natural flow of life is interrupted.

From a therapeutic view, this is the moment when awareness fuses with emotion.

It’s not that pain hurts — it’s that I hurt.

It’s not that thoughts arise — it’s that I think them.

This is where the first illusion forms.

3. The Observer Awakens

Through practice, we learn to step back.

We begin to notice: “Ah, anxiety is here,” instead of “I am anxious.”

That small shift is enormous.

It’s the awakening of meta-awareness — the witness state.

Here, emotions and thoughts can arise and pass, while awareness stays open and still.

In modern psychology, this parallels cognitive defusion in CBT and observer consciousness in ACT — recognizing thoughts as events in the mind rather than facts about who we are.

In hypnotherapy, this is the moment of dissociation from problem states.

You, the client, realize that you are not inside the emotion; rather, the emotion is moving through you.

And yet, Buddhism gently points out: even this calm, observing self is still an identity.

A subtler “I” — the one who observes.

The second illusion.

4. Seeing Without a Seer

The Buddha once said to the ascetic Bāhiya:

“In the seen, there is only the seen.

In the heard, only the heard.

In the sensed, only the sensed.

In the cognized, only the cognized.”

This is not philosophy; it’s direct experience.

When sight happens, there is just seeing.

When sound arises, just hearing.

No one behind the eyes. No one inside the ears.

Modern neuroscience agrees: the brain constructs the model of a self after perception, not before. Awareness has no center — it’s a process, not a person.

In hypnosis, this moment feels like complete absorption.

You’re not the watcher anymore — you’re simply aware.

The “I” fades, but consciousness shines more brightly.

It’s pure observation without an observer.

5. The Gentle Dissolution

Here comes the final paradox:

The mind says, I must hold on to this!

But who is holding?

You cannot “achieve” no-self.

Every attempt to grasp it strengthens the illusion of a grasper.

The Buddha never asked us to destroy the ego — only to see clearly.

When you see a mirage as a mirage, you don’t need to chase it away; it loses power by being recognized.

In session, this is like the moment a client realizes a lifelong pattern was never personal — it was conditioning.

Seeing it clearly releases it naturally, like opening the hand that once held a hot stone.

6. What Remains

When the contraction around “me” loosens, life continues — but lighter.

There’s still body, breath, emotion, thought — yet no one clinging to them.

Awareness becomes effortless, kind, and spontaneous.

And what arises next is compassion — not as moral duty, but as the natural movement of non-separation.

Your suffering and mine are not different. There is just suffering, met by understanding.

The heart, once divided, becomes boundless.

7. Practice: Experiencing the Gap

You can explore this insight safely through guided awareness:

1. Sit quietly.

2. Notice any sensation in your body.

3. Label it softly — “warmth,” “pressure,” “tingling.”

4. Then ask, “Who notices this?”

5. Rest in the question without trying to answer.

6. Feel the noticing dissolve into stillness.

Each time you glimpse that space, you taste the freedom the Buddha pointed to — not a concept, but a direct experience of being without self-reference.

8. Closing Reflection

The self is not something to lose or destroy; it’s something to see through.

And when you see through it, life remains — but simpler, softer, freer.

As the Zen masters say:

“Mountains are mountains again.”

There is no observer behind the eyes — only awareness, living itself.

This reflection was inspired by Buddhist teachings on non-self (Anatta) — particularly the Bāhiya Sutta (Ud 1.10) and the Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta (SN 22.59) — and by YouTube Video: Who is the “Observer” Inside Your Mind? A Buddhist Perspective.” Adapted and rewritten for therapeutic practice by Gregory K. Cadotte, Light Manor Hypnotherapy.