Common Sense Guide To Meditation #5 - Keeping It Simple

This is Part 5 of John Butler's 'common sense' guide to meditation. John reminds us of the blessing of simple common sense - feeling, looking, listening. Pay attention. There's nothing more simple. When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Transcript

I remember very early on in my,

When I learned to meditate,

Being told,

When you don't know what to say,

Say nothing.

As a shy young man,

Always never really knowing what to say,

It was an absolute godsend actually to be given the confidence to say nothing.

And actually,

After the sort of first embarrassment with somebody,

It's often rather nice just to say nothing,

Isn't it?

Who is the nothing actually?

The very fullness of meaning.

This talk was called,

Keeping it simple.

And what can be simpler than just being here now,

Silent.

I started to meditate over 60 years ago,

When meditation was almost unknown in the West and was regarded with some suspicion as being Eastern and sort of not quite Christian.

Exotic.

In fact,

There was only one person I ever discovered who would teach me.

I had to go down to London,

Which was an awful bore at the time,

Because I was living here in Bakewell and I just started farming just where the showground is.

The showground was my first farm,

And before they covered it over with the new market.

My father was an artist.

Dad loved to draw.

He was a wonderful draftsman.

He always kept a sketchbook and pencil in his pocket,

And whenever he didn't know what to do,

He would draw what was in front of him.

Very often it was a horse or cow or tree or grass or leaf or anything that was just in front of him.

So he was naturally very attentive.

He saw what was in front of him.

He looked.

And I remember on one occasion when I was trying to draw a horse's legs,

Which,

You know,

Is quite complicated really.

It's not just two straight lines.

It's got various bumps and twists and things,

And I couldn't do it,

Couldn't get it right.

So I said to Dad,

How do you get to draw a horse's legs?

He said such a simple thing to me.

Look and then draw what you can see.

There you are,

My dearest.

Look and draw what you can see.

At the school,

I'd been introduced to giving attention.

Well,

Of course,

I didn't really understand what this was at first,

Or I thought I couldn't.

It was,

You know,

Given in a rather sort of professional,

Exotic way,

Something I hadn't done before,

Giving attention.

Gosh,

What's that?

And I remember sort of trying to look at things.

And then I realized that my mum and dad did this naturally,

You see.

It was just their natural way of living,

Of working.

And so my meditation came down a few steps from this rather sort of super special practice to just ordinary life.

Good heavens,

Mum and dad are meditating perfectly.

This is the way I've been brought up anyway.

It's just doing,

Using my common sense,

Isn't it?

Listening and looking with attention.

Now then,

These days,

This is a bit of a lost art because people have a very short attention span,

At least young people do,

At least so I'm told.

On the radio,

I think they were saying that even YouTube videos seldom get more than five minutes viewing before they switch on to something else.

So,

Dear,

On this subject of keeping meditation simple,

I would like to remind you that you don't need anything complicated.

It's really,

There's nothing more important than just doing what you're doing with attention.

In other words,

Be reminded of the blessing of simple common sense,

You know.

If you're going to drink a glass of water,

Try to do it and actually taste,

You know,

Realize what you're doing.

Feel your feet on the ground.

I wonder how many of you sitting here have ever in your whole life actually felt your feet on the ground.

Now then,

Attention is a very interesting thing because we can,

I'm sure you all know what half attention is,

Or just a bit of attention.

Hmm?

But how often do we look with 100% attention?

Ah,

That's the important thing.

Full attention.

And if you just look at yourself,

You'll see that almost never do you look with full attention.

I think if any of us actually did look with 100% attention,

You never know you might burst with the glory of God.

Now dear listeners,

You don't need a whole special hullabaloo about meditation.

There's nothing more simple and ordinary than meditation,

As any ordinary common working man knows.

You pay attention.

If you want to bang a nail in a bit of wood,

You do it with attention.

Otherwise,

It goes crooked,

Don't you?

It's a great,

Great secret,

You see.

And I'll tell you something else you may have noticed,

Or you may not,

And it's a very good test of whether you are giving attention.

Because if you really give attention,

What happens to this?

Isn't your mind quiet,

Super quiet?

Because there's no more attention left for your thinking,

Is there?

Just try it.

Look,

Feel your feet on the ground.

Come on,

You still think you've done it before,

And you think,

Oh,

My feet are on the ground.

Of course,

They're not.

Notice your feet on the ground,

My dears.

Let's try wiggling the toes and engage with the ground.

You won't be able to do it,

But you'll do it a bit more than you usually do it.

You'll do it a bit more than you usually do it.

And even if you do that,

Are you also able to think?

Isn't your mind quiet?

Now,

It used to be,

Well,

At least when I learned to meditate,

The first question I was asked was,

What do you want?

What do you really want?

What's your real deep heart desire?

Very many people will say,

I want peace.

What's more peaceful than the ground?

The ground's still,

Isn't it?

The mind's going whirling around.

Our dear Mother Earth is still,

Perfect peace.

And if we add to this little exercise of feet on the ground,

Listen,

And listen beyond that into the stillness,

The silence.

It's always present,

Isn't it?

It was here when we started the meeting,

Still here.

Listen and also look,

Just engage with the room.

And it's a marvellous thing,

Isn't it,

That the more you look,

The more we see.

So these three little things,

All of which you can call common sense,

Was feeling,

Listening,

And looking.

If any child can do,

Better than us grown-ups.

It's really,

What else do you need for perfect meditation?

Because what do we mean by meditation anyway?

It's a bit of one of these other sort of new age words,

Isn't it?

I'll tell you,

60 years ago there was only one place in the whole of England,

The whole of the country where I could go to meditate.

I was in London,

And now there's meditation at every,

You know,

On every notice board.

And actually,

Basically,

People have always meditated.

It goes,

You know,

It's as natural as breathing,

Isn't it?

The dinosaurs did it.

What is not meditation?

Isn't it really just being present here now?

And something happens,

You see,

Someone gets up,

And it's still held in this perfect presence,

Isn't it?

No matter what the disturbance is.

And if there's a few thoughts floating around in the mind,

Or even many thoughts,

Just better,

Doesn't it?

Because beyond the thoughts is this perfect peace,

Perfect presence.

Where can I go from thy presence?

You may know that.

I think it's the 139th Psalm,

Isn't it?

Where can I go from thy presence?

If I go up to heaven,

Thou art there.

If I go down to hell,

Thou art there also.

If I go to the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even though you see it's everywhere.

Great question is,

Where are we?

Where are we,

My dears,

Absent from presence?

And this is the problem,

Really.

This is why life goes wrong,

We get unhappy.

And why,

Of course,

Eventually,

We die.

Because we're absent from the presence of what?

Presence of God,

Which is eternal life.

And this is the human condition.

To how natural it is to come back to common sense,

Feet on the ground.

It's a marvellous saying.

My granddad said that to me as a boy.

Keep your feet on the ground,

My boy,

When I was going off in my dreams of what I was going to be when I grew up.

Keep your feet on the ground.

People have always said it to each other,

Haven't they?

Before they used to,

Years ago.

Use your common sense,

The sort of sweet,

Comforting,

Timeless,

Good counsel,

Isn't it?

Simple.

No arguments.

Utter simplicity.

Because where does this presence end?

I'll keep it very,

Very super simple.

Where's the silence in?

Here in this room,

Isn't it?

Outside the room?

If we go to the co-op,

Isn't it there also?

Go on the main road?

Doesn't the whole world move within stillness?

Isn't it co-existent with all the action,

Not only of our own mental functions of our body,

But all that we know of life is held within this timelessness,

Isn't it?

The noise within silence,

The movement within this stillness,

Or another lovely word for it is rest.

This rest.

Matter within.

Because what is it?

What is this?

You can't describe it.

It doesn't have a form,

Doesn't have a name,

Does it?

It's like space.

Silence,

Stillness,

Space,

Peace.

Where does one end and the other begin?

Or are they all just expansions of the other?

Peace,

Presence.

And what spirit,

For heaven's sake?

Who knows what spirit is?

Who knows what any of these things are?

Who knows what silence is?

Can't describe it,

Can you?

Or space?

Or presence?

Yet you all know what I'm talking about perfectly well.

Spirit.

Life.

Life itself.

Unchanging,

Eternal life.

So simply present,

Isn't it?

What about love?

Can't you feel the embrace of this totally unjudgmental,

All-embracing presence?

So Jesus says,

Come,

Come my beloved,

Come home where you belong.

Because isn't it like home,

Really?

I can tell you when you become as old as me,

It's only too welcome,

Only too obvious.

That this,

The mortal,

The John Butler,

Dies out.

And what's left?

Isn't it this?

And isn't it actually much more,

In the real sense,

More real than this transitory,

Corruptible creature,

Here today and gone tomorrow?

And this even less reliable head of mine,

Wobbly.

The comfort of the Spirit,

Which actually teaches us all things.

Again,

As Jesus says,

The Spirit is the real teacher,

Isn't it?

Because when we're in touch with this,

Everything else falls into place.

You understand.

You understand.

There's another marvellous thing that happens when we're still like this,

And more or less giving attention.

When we look at each other,

What flows between us,

Completely effortlessly,

Naturally?

It's very difficult to be fully present.

It takes a lot of practice.

I've been practising,

As I say,

Over 60 years,

Or I suppose my whole life,

And I can't do it.

I've been better than I was.

But it does help me to put life in proportion,

Doesn't it?

Put first things first.

Put first things first.

Realise that before somehow we lose this pristine origin,

We sort of fall into lower levels of consciousness,

Of absence,

Really,

Where life becomes separate,

Separated.

Because in this silence,

You see,

Silence is not divided,

Is it?

There isn't your silence and my silence.

It's undivided.

There's only one.

Only one presence,

Actually.

So why do we become so separate?

Well,

This is the story of what's called the fall of man,

The fall from this higher level of consciousness,

Which is of course,

It's just not as grand as it sounds.

It simply means being present towards the separation.

And the whole work of meditation really is to rise in consciousness from this little separate me,

This transitory,

Wobbly creature called John,

Into this infinite,

Infinite welcome.

You think how complicated our daily life is?

How simple is it?

I love the description of God as absolute simplicity.

We can experience this for ourselves here and now,

Can't we?

The simplicity and this fall into separation and complexity.

I think this and you think that.

Contention or not.

There is time and space.

This is timeless.

Immeasurable.

Here is past and future.

This is the ever-present now.

Think the last words of Jesus,

I am with you always.

What is it in life that is with us always?

Always has been.

The one love that never fails,

Never says no.

I'm with you.

It's the utter simplicity of it here and now.

And yes,

We don't have to change our lives or stop working or stop anything really.

It's just as we're opening up another dimension,

Isn't it?

It's just being a little bit more attentive to what we're doing.

Many people will come and say,

I can't stop thinking.

How do I find,

How can I control my mind as if anybody could or ever has been able to?

Yes,

So people are looking for ways of turning in.

And,

Of course,

There are countless ways of doing it.

When we consider what we mean by what's inside us,

We normally come up against what's called thinking.

And people get upset over their thinking.

You know,

They worry over bad thoughts and whether they want to have good ones or have a rest from it.

Thinking can become very compulsive.

In fact,

It,

You can say,

You can almost define the human condition,

At least the modern human condition,

As lost in thought.

What can we do about it?

Well,

One very simple way,

As I've been telling you,

Is just to be present,

Listen and look,

And feet on the ground,

And then your mind will become quiet.

And here in Bakewell,

I'm sure you all know what Bakewell's famous for.

People come here for the day and sit by the river and spend an hour eating fish and chips by the river,

Just looking at the fish and the water flowing past,

And feel better for it,

Or go to the wreck and let the children kick a ball around and look at the hillside and somehow just feel better.

It's worth coming all the way to Bakewell in the traffic.

I like to look out the window,

Because when you look out the window,

There's always something other than this,

Isn't there?

It gives one a rest from this.

Yes,

Anyway,

To come back to thoughts,

How to deal with them.

Well,

Yes,

There's just the effect of just going out for a walk or stroking a dog,

You see.

These things will immediately bring some rest to the mind,

Bring some comfort.

Or just looking into the flames of a fire,

If you're lucky enough to have one.

Eating your dinner very often is very effective,

Isn't it,

Of bringing your mind to rest,

Give you something nice to focus on.

And then there are more complicated things.

A lot of people turn to the media as an alternative to their own thinking and just feed themselves on other people's thinking,

Which is probably a mixed blessing.

But there are many ways of finding rest.

Now,

If someone's talking a lot and you're just driving you nuts,

You just want to get out of it,

Or a noisy party,

What do you do?

You just go out into the passage,

Don't you?

Just turn away from it.

And then the talking goes on,

And at least you're out of it.

Well,

Actually,

This is a very similar way to deal with your thoughts.

You just leave them behind.

How do you do that?

Ah,

Well,

You need an alternative.

And traditional alternatives just give you another thought or another,

Something for the mind to focus on,

Which may be called a mantra,

If you've heard of that.

You're just given a name,

Say,

The name of God,

Maybe.

And if you repeat this again with full attention,

Then you'll find that your thoughts just continue,

But you're focusing on something else.

And you forget about the thoughts.

The thoughts just go on,

Naturally.

I like to think of the mind,

Really,

As you know how your tummies are just digesting your breakfast,

Isn't it?

It's just going on,

And you haven't thought about it for the last half hour.

It just happens naturally,

Doesn't it?

Well,

Your mind is really just a mental digestive system.

This digestive is a bit more complicated than this,

Because it's picking up all the impressions of life today,

All the latest media news,

The people you've talked to,

Everything in your daily life,

All the space and time and complications that the mind produces.

But it's really just digesting it completely naturally.

So everything is perfect in its way.

All our various thoughts are just digesting.

So if you can just do that,

Go beyond it,

Then there's no problem,

Because this just carries on naturally.

It's terribly hard work to try to control your mind here.

I don't know anybody who's ever been able to do that.

I certainly can't.

I just lost interest in it.

Just get bored with it,

Fell up with it.

And then you see it just goes on naturally.

There's nothing wrong with the mind.

It's perfectly all right.

It's just doing its job.

It's just digesting whatever it's got in it.

But if you turn to something else,

Something you love,

When you love something,

You'll turn to it naturally,

Won't you?

And in that love,

You'll just forget about what you don't love.

It's marvellously effective.

Just look at someone you love,

Often your dog,

Your best friend.

Immediately you'll feel better,

Won't you?

You'll lift it out of whatever it is you don't like.

The whole work of meditation is based on the very simple principle that we turn from where we are less happy to where we are more happy.

It's turning to what's better,

What suits us better.

That's why it works.

You know,

Presumably you come here because you want to benefit yourself in some way.

You want to find something that you might find useful.

And if you want to find simplicity in life and rest,

Then you'll probably do what I'm suggesting.

But if you don't,

If you prefer this,

If you're more interested in this than in that,

Well,

God bless you.

You're free to do so.

Similarly with your mind.

You can spend the rest of your life thinking.

Some people do.

If you think of the mind,

If you think of clouds,

Clouds in the sky,

The mind's very much just like clouds.

And when you get in an airplane,

You go up through the clouds and what's beyond the clouds?

Open skies,

It goes on forever.

You look down,

You see clouds are just clouds.

And somewhere down there's a world you've almost forgotten about,

Called an airport.

And you see this little performance of the human condition,

Separateness and that.

But up there's freedom,

Isn't there?

So the mind's only a problem if you're sitting in it.

And you find an alternative.

That's really the inner work of meditation.

The two are sort of mixed up.

They're interlocked,

Aren't they?

Both the same thing.

In a way,

Just paying attention is using feet on the ground or listening,

Looking as an outer mantra,

Inner mantra,

And outer mantra.

I've really learned to trust this Presence here much more than I trust myself these days.

And I don't,

I've rather given up on John Butler.

He's a,

He's a,

I'm not sure what he is,

But he won't be around much longer,

But his Presence will be.

I have much more faith in this than that.

This simplicity is a great clue that we're in the right direction.

Again,

I remember being told when I attended what's called School of Meditation in London for many years,

As if something's complicated,

It's wrong.

You're going in the wrong direction.

Easier said than done,

Isn't it?

How do we,

It's not that easy to leave a complication for hindsight.

I think meditation is a lifelong,

Well,

It's very much a lifelong process.

I'm still learning,

I assure you,

My dears,

And I think,

I think I'm just a little boy still in a grey beard coming to the end of preparatory school.

And maybe with a bit of luck,

I'll move on to high school.

We'll see.

Reviews

Outstanding talk. Thank you for the truth and wisdom 🙏