So today we might ask the question,
Where is reality?
Intuitively we know,
Right?
Reality is right here.
This is it.
We're in it.
But how do you relate with reality?
Do you relate with it like it's right here or do you relate with it like it's out there?
Quite often we do meditation practices,
For instance,
To get to some place.
There seems to be a tendency for that,
To get to this place of presence or whatever.
And yet it's always here.
It's always right here.
So today I thought we would look at some prepositions.
It's a practice I think we may have done together before.
But I think these prepositions are a great way to explore reality and presence now.
And the word I'll probably use today is stillness,
Because stillness is a great gateway for experiencing these things as they are right here.
Again,
Like many of my practices,
This one's inspired by Rodney Smith.
And so I invite you to find an awake posture,
One aligned with gravity.
Take a couple of deep breaths if you wish.
Just settle,
Settle,
Settle.
Where is the stillness?
It's easy to identify where the movement is.
Where is the stillness?
It's as though movement arises from stillness and passes away into stillness.
As you know,
Everything arises and passes away.
Well,
Where do they arise from?
What do they pass away into?
Perhaps it's stillness.
So is it possible in this moment to be with the stillness?
Be with stillness,
Abide with stillness,
Allowing movement to arise,
Whether that's thoughts or sensations within the body,
Sounds and movement around you,
And all the while abiding with the stillness that seems to hold all these things.
Noticing that any resistance to movement is just another thing that takes us out of and away from the stillness.
Noticing your relationship with stillness as you abide with stillness,
Like you could reach out and touch it perhaps.
There is this,
And then there appears to be this experience,
That stillness.
Close,
Isn't it?
It's close.
So let us try a different preposition,
Within,
Abiding within stillness.
Allow it to surround you like a cocoon.
Feel it hold you as it holds all form,
All movement.
Let it hug you,
Abiding within stillness.
So close,
Like a second skin.
Let's try one more preposition,
Abiding as stillness.
Let it in,
Be the stillness.
Doesn't preclude any movement,
But notice how the relationship with that movement changes as you become stillness.
Sounds,
Movement,
Sensations,
Passing through,
Passing by.
Noticing the change in your relationship with reality,
How in some ways stillness and reality,
In this instance,
Are synonymous.
And stillness,
When we are with stillness or within stillness,
Reality stillness seems to be outside.
And as we begin to abide as stillness,
Reality becomes our experience,
Inseparable.
Noticing what would take you out of the stillness and away from the stillness.
What would inhibit your experience of being the stillness?
Here's a clue.
It's always a thought or a series of thoughts.
Say for instance,
A sensation arises.
The sensation does not take you away from the stillness,
But your thoughts about that sensation may.
Notice as you abide as stillness,
How your relationship with thought changes.
Thoughts may still arise,
But they just pass through,
Pass by,
Just like sensation,
Just like movement.
They're just another form of movement,
Another passing storm.
Abiding as stillness,
As movement passes through,
The subtle,
The not so subtle.
Where is reality?
Where is the stillness?
Is it something to seek for,
To look for,
Or is it something to relax into,
Settle into?
The invitation today to play with this a little,
To experience movement as movement passing through stillness.
So as you get up and go about your day,
See if it's possible to do at least some of it as stillness.
So there is the movement that moves through stillness,
And that may look like your body.
And there is the stillness through which it moves.
Can you be the stillness?
And that be your practice.
Thank you for your practice.
