Hello,
This is Guy,
And in this,
Our third session,
Talking about the next level of meditation,
We're going to look together at the strength of a silent mind.
It's not something that we would usually think of,
That a silent mind has strength,
But we're about to discover together that it may be the single greatest strength that we need in order to deal with those moments where it feels like life is too much for us,
And we go looking for a strength that we really never find.
So let's start.
First,
We need a very important fact.
No moment can be different than it is.
I don't know if you've ever actually thought about it,
But you can't change a moment that comes.
The moment and its content appears from within us,
Before us,
And we are in that moment relegated to being able to see it,
But not to change the very thing that we are looking at as it appears so that whether we like it or not actually means nothing.
However,
What does mean something is what we allow to happen within us as each of these moments unfolds before us.
It's what we do inwardly,
With what takes place outwardly that alone has the power to transform both of these worlds in a way that's truly positive for all.
It's why our interior work,
If you will,
The next level in our meditation,
Is so important,
Because it leads gradually to a completely different relationship with every moment that we meet.
To start,
We have to realize there's no moment in which everything around us isn't beginning.
Again,
Let's look at it together.
Each new moment is the initiation of a series of events,
Experiences that don't exist until that moment produces that.
So the question is,
Will we choose to be part of life's beginning by entering into that present moment,
Or do we push it away because we think we know what that moment is supposed to produce?
And if we make the right choice of being present the way I'm describing it,
Then we stand at the threshold of a meditative life.
As we see that real life is self-renewing,
And as we learn to align our will with this eternal principle,
Then a measure of its power becomes an active part of our own being.
Let's look at a couple of examples how this new and higher relationship with life can unfold as we take and enter into the next level of meditation.
Real strength doesn't have anything to do with being more powerful than whatever the moment is that seems to be overpowering us.
Because real strength understands that there is literally nothing in this world,
Or for that matter in any other,
For us to be afraid of.
Imagine that.
Imagine meeting a moment and you know from the inside out that nothing that is being revealed to you has the power to do anything to you other than give you a new understanding of yourself.
If we didn't know that was so,
Then our life would look the way it does now where we're struggling all the time.
But changing that around we can realize that within us already dwells a level of being,
Of consciousness,
With the power to not just reveal and actualize these moments,
Transform them into an inner strength,
But through it to literally transform that moment and ourselves into something that is altogether new and stronger than ever before.
I'm talking about what I call silent seeing.
We all have ideas about silence,
But we don't really know that it is a part of ourselves.
We see it as something we want,
Maybe a state to be gained or avoided,
All of which turns silence at least to that seeking mind,
Something that appears outside of us to be wanted or avoided but nevertheless something that dwells in a world apart from ourselves.
But silence doesn't dwell outside of us any more than the ocean lives apart from its own waves.
Silence was there in the beginning of all things and it's always here with us as part of the living now.
Without some kind of conscious relationship with real silence,
We're wasting away in the noise of a world that loves the sound of its own prattling.
And by the way,
It loves it because it's able to hide its pain in the chaos that it continues to create as it tries to escape its own manifestations.
So if we can see the truth of what I've said at least to this point,
That any effort of taking thought to bring about the appearance of some kind of silence that we hope for is like using a leaf blower to gather the ashes out of our barbecue.
And if we do see that,
The futility of taking thought to produce peace and quiet,
Then what are we to do in those moments when our own thoughts and feelings are flying everywhere within us and each and every one of them demanding we attend to it if we ever hope to know peace again?
So let's take a little trip to the past.
Do you remember when you were young,
Giving someone,
Maybe a brother or sister,
Maybe somebody who hurt you,
The silent treatment,
How you were aware of that person,
Including an awareness of a feeling that you had of wanting to say something,
Maybe to them to straighten them out,
But knowing that you mustn't say a word?
Well,
If we ever want to be inwardly at peace with ourselves,
We must learn to meet our own thoughts and feelings in just that same way.
And the only way that can happen is if we learn to accept the moment,
Every moment,
As it is given to us.
In a manner of speaking,
This kind of acceptance is the highest form of meditation.
We understand that life isn't something happening to us.
We've looked at that,
And if it's not happening to us,
Then it is happening for us.
And the more we accept this revelation,
Inwardly and outwardly agree to the revelations that come with it,
The freer we are to receive the innumerable gifts that appear with every single moment,
Including a moment-to-moment rebirth of our own understanding.
Without acceptance of this kind,
There is the constant howl of resistance to life.
And that noise,
By the way,
Has no awareness whatsoever of anything,
Let alone the intelligent silence that it is covering up that cannot be disturbed,
Let alone turned into something to be feared.
Without this kind of acceptance,
There can be no silence.
And if there's no silence,
There can be no peace.
Without peace,
There can't be clarity.
And without clarity,
How can there be depth,
Any dimension to our own existence,
So that without being able to penetrate,
To see into the depths of our own heart and mind,
There can't be revelation.
And in case it's not clear,
Without revelation,
There's no possibility of renewal,
No real life.
That's the next level of meditation,
To learn and practice as best we're able to,
What it means to give our own anxious thoughts and feelings the silent treatment.
Bring every disturbance into your awareness of it,
Into this presence that is already a part of your being,
That meets these moments in perfect quietude,
In an awareness that at the same time that these things are unfolding,
There is a temptation to jump into that turbulence in the hopes of quieting it,
Much as we saw in our earlier story.
The more we will choose this kind of silent seeing,
The more we will see that there has always been a perfectly silent self,
A higher nature that isn't just there within us waiting to be realized,
But in truth,
That we have always lived within without knowing it.
The next level of meditation is to embrace this kind of silent seeing,
And in doing so,
Begin to see life through a mind,
A heart,
And a body that is quiet because it is part of what it is observing.
I'll see you in the next talk where we're going to look at very powerful insights into this nature of silence and how we can begin to meditate on that and enter into that next level of meditation.
See you soon.
