Silence

There is a silent place in each of us, a place of unconditional, indestructible peace. To discover and learn to abide in this place is a high art, perhaps the highest art, and ultimately, the deepest expression of compassion for all life. The silent place, of course, is not a place, nor is it of the mind or something that can be brought about by spiritual techniques, prayer, or therapy, no matter how we may yearn for it. No act of will or second-hand knowledge can bring us genuine peace. Why? Because real peace has no because. The great 17th-century Japanese Zen master, Bankei, referred to it as ‘The Unborn Buddha Mind.’

Anyone can check it out anytime. We don’t have to be enlightened masters to discover what we already are. Making the shift from habitual involvement in thinking to simple attention to what is right now is the art of awakening.

Are you afraid of the future? There’s certainly more than the usual level of shared anxiety going around these days. However, can we see how the mind, as it chases itself into an imagined future, transforms legitimate concern into fear-based suffering? Ironically, however, fear is an excellent doorway into the present moment. Just noticing that one is anxious is the first step. Can we stay with that feeling, not trying to fix or eliminate it? Don’t resist. That’s the key. Just observe and allow. You may actually find some inexplicable beauty in this simple act of awareness. You may find that, in reality, there is no problem in the present moment, no matter what is happening. There is no problem because there is no ‘me and my story’. There is no one to get hurt and nothing to lose. And you may find that the fear, anger, resentment, jealousy, or anything else on the menu of human thought/feeling begins to lose its grip on your sense of felt reality.

These words, by the way, are not from a book. They come out of day-to-day hard-earned experience as a human being. I have learned that the art of awareness works. But as they say in AA, it only ‘works if you work it’. Unlike everything else in life, it has no beginning and no end. It comes from nowhere, yet everything, even our fears, arise in it. In essence, it is vast, uncreated, silent intelligence. It is the source of love and compassion and is available to all, free of charge.

Just listen to your heart.