Stillness, the Prelude of Activity

Out of stillness comes all action. This sounds like an oxymoron, but it is true. Meditators can verify this for themselves.

The stillness that happens in meditation – the silence that overshadows the meditator – is not a “void” or emptiness as so many imagine. It is actually something very dynamic. It is a palpable higher kind of energy which sort of “enforces” a silence and stillness. We are getting into areas now that are beyond words, they must be experienced to be understood, but we will try our best to describe it in words.

The most powerful forces in the universe are silent. The Sun generates unimaginable energy. It sustains life in this solar system. Yet, it is silent. No noise. The stars and galaxies are silent. Yet they contain illimitable power. Space is silent. The noise we hear in our everyday lives is not coming from “space” but from the objects, people and things that occupy space. Space itself, the womb, the container, of all that is, is a Great Silence. Yet without it, nothing would exist.

Even in our mundane affairs we can see the power of stillness and silence. When a motor is working properly there is a natural sound that it makes, but no discordant sounds – no loud noises – no bangs or clunks. You almost don’t notice the sound when you drive. The motor hums its natural tune. When the body is working properly it is silent – no pains, no complaints – a smoothly functioning machine. Noise,discord, is evidence of malfunction, of pathology. And so it is in our minds. Too much noise, too much activity, too much static, is evidence of malfunction. And when we contact “perfection” in our meditation, the silence, the right function, comes into us.

The Silence. It is a humming harmony. One can hear high pitched tones. Yet it is silence. The thinking stops. You can see what is going on in your mind – the old desires, habits, yearnings and cravings. But you are above them. They are merely phenomena happening within a great silence. Your thought process is stopped and you know that the thoughts and feelings parading before you are not your thoughts – just old momentums, old creations that have a quasi life of their own. As one stays in the silence (it is a very pleasurable experience) one is in the “unknown” – something is happening in this silence, but the conscious mind is clueless as to what it is. Yet you feel that some new “creation” has happened. When you come down from this place into everyday consciousness, suddenly, effortlessly, your problems are solved. In my case I know how to interpret that Horoscope I’m working on, I know what I will say to so and so who is calling, and how to handle whatever issue is important at that time. But this is only part of it. Something was “stirred” in the silence. I get calls from unexpected places and know exactly how to deal with them. Opportunities come – there is a call to lecture or do readings or to travel. Things that consciously I was never thinking about. It came out of the silence. Intuitions come too. Call so and so – go to such and such a place – write a letter to so and so. Things of this nature. And the resulting actions are always powerful.

When the silence happens in meditation, you know that your meditation is already a success. If the silence doesn’t happen, you are not really meditating (perhaps you think you are – you went through the motions – but you’re not) – generally there are psychological issues operating that are preventing the meditation from happening. These psychological issues will need to be dealt with before proper meditation can happen – and this is the subject for another article.

When the silence happens in meditation, pay attention to it. Become conscious of it. Keep your mind on it. For this is the Presence of the Divine. It is way above our personal psychological, carnal, consciousness. As you pay attention, you will eventually be able to “merge” with it and actually become this Great, Great Silence. And then life becomes a continuous “revelation” – one after another. The Silence is not only the womb for future actions and events, but it is the womb which will give birth to your True Self.

To read part 2 of the blog, click here.