I tend to stare at the ceiling fan in my room, often in times of object meditation.

In pursuit of stillness, one might think a moving object, like a fan, is a deterrent. My experiences thus far say otherwise.

I find the constant velocity of the spinning object grounding. It’s easy to calibrate myself against.

When observing the fan as a mere object in a greater scene, as when in my peripherals, the spinning blades appear faster; wrapped in a perceived blur from the motion they exhibit.

My brain, unable to distinctly identify the blades, perceives the object as one – as the shared circular space claimed by the blades.

This, however, changes when I bring the fan into specific focus.

Paying close attention to the endlessly dancing quintet above, I experience, what feels like a slowing down of the fan. Each blade becomes distinguishable. Further, by focusing on only a single blade and anticipating it’s position, I’m able to perceive the object with far more clarity.

The image becomes far more vivid. Suddenly, there isn’t a mirage infused with a cast of circular motion blur, but rather, 5 individual blades moving.

This process that my body undergoes requires immense focus, and demands a certain level of activity from the brain. A level that cements it as the only active task. While performing this experience, I find it difficult to veer off into other trains of thoughts, part of what makes it conducive to meditation.

Visual experiences are often unique, and further, hard to describe. Perhaps the way I experience the object is unique to me, and if not, perhaps I wasn’t able to articulate the experience well enough. Either way, I find the spinning fan a fascinating visual stimulus that helps condition the mind to focus on a single task, and prepare for the desired emptiness.