The Headless Way: A Short Introduction

Who are you, from your own point of view?

Photo by Mika Ruusunen on Unsplash

Would you be willing to try a short experiment with me?

Take your index finger, and point at an object, any object, in the room around you.

Notice that it has a color, a shape, a form. 

Now point at your foot. Notice, again, that it has color and form, that it appears to you as an object.

Next, point at your torso. Although it’s much closer to you, it still has a color, a shape, and appears as an object in your field of vision.

Finally, take your finger and point at your face. Follow the direction your finger is pointing to look at your own face. 

What do you see? Does it have a color, a shape? Does it appear as an object in your field of vision? Or is there nothing there but your finger and the room around you? Do you experience yourself as an object in your field of vision, or as a subject?

From your own point of view, there is no face. When you look at where your face should be, there is just the world. You experience yourself as a kind of aperture, an open space in which the world appears.

If you look down, you can see your torso, your arms, your legs and feet emerging out of this aperture. But, apart from perhaps a faint glimmer of the side of your nose, you can’t see your own face or head. 

“Self portrait” from Ernst Mach’s book From The Analysis of Sensations, 1891

This is the first experiment taught in the Headless Way, also known as the “Science of the First Person,” a little-known method developed by British philosopher Douglas Harding (1909-2007) and taught today by his student, Richard Lang. 

C.S. Lewis called Harding’s first book, The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth, “a work of the highest genius.” Harding later wrote On Having No Head and developed a whole series of these experiments in the 60s and 70s. 

I first discovered the Headless Way as part of the Finders Course, an online course/research study exploring spiritual awakening. Sam Harris is also a fan, and discusses the Headless Way in his book Waking Up. Compared to most methods of meditation, the Headless Way is quite direct. It points (literally) at the open space of awareness that the great nondual traditions say is our true nature. 

When I first tried the Headless Way experiments, I remember feeling an unusual sense of spaciousness. I vividly remember walking around an outdoor shopping mall here in Southern California, delighted by how the people, colors, music, and objects all appeared in the empty space where my head should be. Although I knew better, I almost felt like the people in the mall might walk right through me!  

But the Headless Way experiments aren’t just about having trippy experiences. The point is to discover who you really are, from your own point of view as a subject. By practicing the experiments, you can experience yourself more and more as an open field of awareness—a kind of capacity for the world.

If you’d like to try more of Harding and Lang’s experiments for yourself, I highly recommend watching this series of videos on Youtube and checking out Richard Lang’s website. If you use the Waking Up app, Richard also has a series of guided meditations in the Practice section. I’ve been in several group classes with him online, and he strikes me as an incredibly kind and sincere individual. 

Did you try the pointing experiment? What did you notice? Let me know what you think in the comments.

---

If you’re not already subscribed to Mindful Mondays, enter your email address below to get my latest writing delivered straight to your inbox every week:

And if you enjoyed today’s edition, why not share it with a friend? Personal recommendations are still the best way for me to grow my audience and share the benefits of mindfulness with the world. Thanks!