Silence is golden. Practicing silence is a powerful way to see
ourselves more clearly and to observe the relationship between our inner
and outer worlds with greater understanding. Time spent in intentional
silence can go a long way toward revealing the architecture of our
hearts and unfolding the blueprints for a life full of fulfillment and
purpose.
Silent retreat has long been a potent tool for spiritual
awakening amongst the various spiritual traditions of the world. In
fact, when practiced sincerely, silence more easily resolves
misunderstanding between people and perspectives than even the most
eloquent words. What is the essence of this power that can lend itself
so universally? How does the act of maintaining silence produce such
obvious results that seekers of every culture, religion and society
naturally gravitate toward it?
Look deeply into most any spiritual path and you will find those who embody the highest aspirations of that path. It is they who have touched upon the inconceivable Reality that our many spiritual teachings attempt to describe. It is they who act as intermediaries between the vast ocean of Divine experience and those who are trying to capture it with the cupped hands of limited awareness.
Silence has long been woven into the self-expression of these beings. Usually, silence has infused the early spiritual strivings of theses awakened ones, forming a fertile ground from which their realizations could flower. Sometimes silence is the very language that they use, to profoundly remind us that the pearls of spiritual realization are found deep beneath the churning waves of intellect and thought. Or, perhaps, silence becomes their prescription to a seeker, to help them to let go of the dramas that they have become all too identified with.
Above all, those who are settled in the Divine reality express silence in the same way that fire expresses heat, by natural fulfillment. Silence is the natural state of one whose heart is absorbed in a consciousness that is too full of bliss to allow for the push and pull of thought.
On the surface, it is easy to see how the practice of silence helps us to disengage from the preoccupations of the ego mind and open up space to concentrate on our internal world. When we are left without the constant stimulations of work, relationship and recreation examining what remains becomes easier.
Let's take a look deep beneath the surface of the circumstances that have carried any given seeker into silent retreat. Deeper still than the various spiritual disciplines that they practice when they get there lies a universal melting point.
The ancient science of yoga, and the yogis who have mastered it, explain that stress, loneliness, anxiety, confusion and suffering of all kinds arise when the pure consciousness of our true nature becomes disturbed by the ripples of desire and attachment. The two sides of the coin of desire are craving that which brings pleasure and aversion to that which brings pain. The true nature of consciousness, on the other hand, is complete, lacking nothing and fulfilled by the bliss of its own being, content to witness the ever-changing flow of life without trying to cling, control or change it.
Just as the moon reflected in a still pool of water becomes unrecognizable when the water is rippled, just so does our experience of pure consciousness become distorted when its surface begins to fluctuate wildly from our emotional responses to the world around us.
Then, like the moon in our analogy, the natural state of our consciousness is no longer perceptible. We are left with ever-changing, disconnected reflections of that pure consciousness, cut off from its self-sufficient bliss.
The result is a dependence upon this world perceived through the senses to make us happy and fulfilled. This is the core of our confusion and the essence of our suffering. Our intellects and emotions become so identified with the world of form and sensation that we suffer when faced with the cruel truth that nothing that we experience through the senses, in and of itself, can give deep and lasting fulfillment.
Any experience or sensation eventually gets old, and if it hasn't yet, we worry about either trying to get more of it or about losing it once we have it.
Every spiritual path, in one way or another, is attempting to neutralize the alternating waves of craving and aversion in consciousness to once again behold the one true nature of being that is obscured by the many unique, dysfunctional ones that we have adopted as ourselves.
So, the cycle that most of us find ourselves in involves identifying with this ever-changing world of people and places, colors and sounds, successes and failures while continually developing a binding relationship with it. We want one thing and don't want the other. We maneuver one way to get what we want and maneuver another way to avoid what we don't want. We like this and dislike that. The entire fabric of our lives can be reduced down to these threads with a little honest self-reflection.
The tools and methods to break this cycle are many and meditation is the most central. Silent retreat pushes us into the early stages of the same process that leads to deep meditation and herein lies the beauty and power of silence. For many, the deepest regions of meditation are inaccessible. Time, restlessness, body troubles and responsibilities all seem to stack up against a substantive effort to meditate deeply and regularly.
The process that both silent retreat and meditation (in a more condensed way) set into motion is that of breaking contact with the senses. The ripples in our consciousness, as discussed, are being fed by a continuous stream of incoming sensory data that we react to repeatedly until thought patterns and emotional habits are hardened into the false personas that we identify with.
In deep meditation we learn to withdraw our energy and attention from the sense organs and let our consciousness just settle down for awhile, without being lashed into waves by the sensations that we have attached ourselves to. This is why meditation is such an essential renewal, it is cutting straight to the root of the problem... of every problem.
Silent retreat echoes the same process. The isolation from stimuli literally begins to turn our nervous system inwards. We have no choice but to seek our fulfillment from something other than sensual experiences, a movement that will naturally carry us back toward the true nature of consciousness. The skill level required to switch off the sense organs through yoga techniques is high and rare, silence is free and available to anyone.
In a short while, which sometimes includes an intense internal struggle, the level of satisfaction, enjoyment and even bliss that can be experienced by the most simple of activities can be mind-blowing. This is the result of reawakening to the truth that fulfillment, peace and happiness do not come from circumstance and sensation. Fulfillment, peace and happiness filter through circumstance and sensation from their source in pure consciousness.
I have watched, again and again, sincere people without a strong meditation practice enter into silent retreat to experience a profound, vibratory detox and walk out the other side significantly more free, more connected to Spirit and more themselves than when they walked in.
Look deeply into most any spiritual path and you will find those who embody the highest aspirations of that path. It is they who have touched upon the inconceivable Reality that our many spiritual teachings attempt to describe. It is they who act as intermediaries between the vast ocean of Divine experience and those who are trying to capture it with the cupped hands of limited awareness.
Silence has long been woven into the self-expression of these beings. Usually, silence has infused the early spiritual strivings of theses awakened ones, forming a fertile ground from which their realizations could flower. Sometimes silence is the very language that they use, to profoundly remind us that the pearls of spiritual realization are found deep beneath the churning waves of intellect and thought. Or, perhaps, silence becomes their prescription to a seeker, to help them to let go of the dramas that they have become all too identified with.
Above all, those who are settled in the Divine reality express silence in the same way that fire expresses heat, by natural fulfillment. Silence is the natural state of one whose heart is absorbed in a consciousness that is too full of bliss to allow for the push and pull of thought.
On the surface, it is easy to see how the practice of silence helps us to disengage from the preoccupations of the ego mind and open up space to concentrate on our internal world. When we are left without the constant stimulations of work, relationship and recreation examining what remains becomes easier.
Let's take a look deep beneath the surface of the circumstances that have carried any given seeker into silent retreat. Deeper still than the various spiritual disciplines that they practice when they get there lies a universal melting point.
The ancient science of yoga, and the yogis who have mastered it, explain that stress, loneliness, anxiety, confusion and suffering of all kinds arise when the pure consciousness of our true nature becomes disturbed by the ripples of desire and attachment. The two sides of the coin of desire are craving that which brings pleasure and aversion to that which brings pain. The true nature of consciousness, on the other hand, is complete, lacking nothing and fulfilled by the bliss of its own being, content to witness the ever-changing flow of life without trying to cling, control or change it.
Just as the moon reflected in a still pool of water becomes unrecognizable when the water is rippled, just so does our experience of pure consciousness become distorted when its surface begins to fluctuate wildly from our emotional responses to the world around us.
Then, like the moon in our analogy, the natural state of our consciousness is no longer perceptible. We are left with ever-changing, disconnected reflections of that pure consciousness, cut off from its self-sufficient bliss.
The result is a dependence upon this world perceived through the senses to make us happy and fulfilled. This is the core of our confusion and the essence of our suffering. Our intellects and emotions become so identified with the world of form and sensation that we suffer when faced with the cruel truth that nothing that we experience through the senses, in and of itself, can give deep and lasting fulfillment.
Any experience or sensation eventually gets old, and if it hasn't yet, we worry about either trying to get more of it or about losing it once we have it.
Every spiritual path, in one way or another, is attempting to neutralize the alternating waves of craving and aversion in consciousness to once again behold the one true nature of being that is obscured by the many unique, dysfunctional ones that we have adopted as ourselves.
So, the cycle that most of us find ourselves in involves identifying with this ever-changing world of people and places, colors and sounds, successes and failures while continually developing a binding relationship with it. We want one thing and don't want the other. We maneuver one way to get what we want and maneuver another way to avoid what we don't want. We like this and dislike that. The entire fabric of our lives can be reduced down to these threads with a little honest self-reflection.
The tools and methods to break this cycle are many and meditation is the most central. Silent retreat pushes us into the early stages of the same process that leads to deep meditation and herein lies the beauty and power of silence. For many, the deepest regions of meditation are inaccessible. Time, restlessness, body troubles and responsibilities all seem to stack up against a substantive effort to meditate deeply and regularly.
The process that both silent retreat and meditation (in a more condensed way) set into motion is that of breaking contact with the senses. The ripples in our consciousness, as discussed, are being fed by a continuous stream of incoming sensory data that we react to repeatedly until thought patterns and emotional habits are hardened into the false personas that we identify with.
In deep meditation we learn to withdraw our energy and attention from the sense organs and let our consciousness just settle down for awhile, without being lashed into waves by the sensations that we have attached ourselves to. This is why meditation is such an essential renewal, it is cutting straight to the root of the problem... of every problem.
Silent retreat echoes the same process. The isolation from stimuli literally begins to turn our nervous system inwards. We have no choice but to seek our fulfillment from something other than sensual experiences, a movement that will naturally carry us back toward the true nature of consciousness. The skill level required to switch off the sense organs through yoga techniques is high and rare, silence is free and available to anyone.
In a short while, which sometimes includes an intense internal struggle, the level of satisfaction, enjoyment and even bliss that can be experienced by the most simple of activities can be mind-blowing. This is the result of reawakening to the truth that fulfillment, peace and happiness do not come from circumstance and sensation. Fulfillment, peace and happiness filter through circumstance and sensation from their source in pure consciousness.
I have watched, again and again, sincere people without a strong meditation practice enter into silent retreat to experience a profound, vibratory detox and walk out the other side significantly more free, more connected to Spirit and more themselves than when they walked in.
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