Centered Calmness

From the Prisma Visions Tarot, the High Priestess; from the Secret Language of Color Cards, Magenta:

The witness is your awareness of your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Witnessing is like waking up in the morning and then looking in the mirror and noticing yourself — not judging or criticizing, just neutrally observing. —Ram Dass

There are two kinds of awareness that observe our experiences: the ego, that always looks out for number one, and the inner witness that watches without attachment or aversion. Our tainted awareness (the eyes of the ego) can't help but get entangled in longing or intolerance, and as a result, can't see the forest for the trees. Pure awareness simply witnesses each moment as it is without blindspots or sticky traps. Magenta is not in the visible spectrum, but an "afterimage" created when red and blue light stimulate different cone cells in the eye. In the same way, the inner witness requires certain conditions to arise for us to connect with it. We sit in quietness and stillness, allowing thoughts to pass by rather than grasping or pushing them away. Eventually we begin to experience a centered calmness that grants us clarity.