The great silence underneath all things

[hagar]

Since the last retreat with my teacher something extremely subtle yet obvious has emerged.

 

Without me actually being able to point the finger at any causal tipping points, the world, in all its turmoil and drama seems essentially peaceful. For me its tactile, and not conceptual, or very "spiritual". It changes nothing; not my life situation or the world. Instead it is radically without incentive.

 

Its been this way for a month now. Its an actual percetual and even subtle sensory experience, but maybe experience is not a valid term. Its more like a being, or a stasis in the middle of all change. Walking to work, in the midst of traffic, I feel this immense stillness emerge almost from behind all things. Its almost a "thundering" silence, but also almost like an embrace, an invisible hand that strokes everything it touches around me, making all sounds, all thoughts, all seeing suddenly existing in this endless overwhelming silence.

 

Now I feel I can "drop" this stillness almost like a pebble in a pond, from above my head, into myself, and it quiets everything. Sitting at work, on my computer, I suddenly feel like I am in the mountains. Its that sense of silence. When this stillness touches some resistance or holding, it stops its descent. It may linger there until something shifts. Then I realize how much of my life is about avoiding that stillness. What is most radical is the feeling that in the midst of this silence, there is no meaning, no objective, no point. Its completely autonomous in the basic sence. It asks nothing, takes nothing, gives nothing.

 

When I listen to music, the space from where the sound come from is much more present than the sound itself. Its as if what is real is not what fills the space. The silence feels like a diamond, indestructible.

 

This all sounds very "spiritual", and maybe pretentious. But its real nevertheless.

Anyone had similar experience lately?

 

PS; Came across this wonderful documentary on Youtube about a monastery in the French Alps that took 16 years to make; Into great Silence. It touches something I can relate to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-z3JPfJNI4

h

Edited October 7, 2011 by hagar

[michael245]

Nice post there buddy........

 

 

 

 

Please! can the moderaters erase my account off of this website,I don't like anymore.

[mYTHmAKER]

Nice post there buddy........

 

 

 

 

Please! can the moderaters erase my account off of this website,I don't like anymore.

 

you can go back and erase your posts - there aren't that many-

and you can just stop posting and you will disappear and soon be forgotten.

[Clarity]

Awesome, thank you for sharing your experience with us.

 

That stillness and silence is so often hidden behind the veil of our conceptual minds.

 

This is what I call experiencing the Tao.

 

It doesn't seem spiritual or pretentious to me.

[iamtheare]

I agree with Clarity. You're simply experiencing the Tao and thank you for sharing.

[doc benway]

Thanks for sharing that hagar, very interesting description of your experience.

I have had sort of a similar experience, not only as regards to silence but also a feeling of space. Sort of like the silence is on multiple sensory/experiential levels.

 

For those who describe this as "experiencing the Tao," how is this different than all of the other experiences (sounds, sights, emotions, all of it)? Do you mean to say that this is Dao and all the rest is something else? Of course, Dao is defined as everything so whatever we experience can be called Dao but what does that really tell us about hagar's experience? It's just an empty word (but then again, so are all the others)...

[Bubbles]

This all sounds very "spiritual", and maybe pretentious. But its real nevertheless.

Anyone had similar experience lately?

 

Thanks for sharing, hagar.

I had similar experience two times:

- first while reading Jean Klein_ Who Am I?_

- second when I was quite involved in Buddhism, it was years later. One day I bowed before Amitābha's statue, and it suddenly fell upon me.

 

Each time it lasted two or three days. There were only experiences..

[thelerner]

I like to think of Stillness as every human being's birth rite, always with us, hidden just beneath our thoughts. So close, yet so hard to contact and stay with.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

I've had similar experiences lately, but i think that in my case it might be coming from being able to stay centered and calm enough to take "everything" in and still have space for more. Now it's more of a voluntary action, not so spontaneous anymore, but it's good because i can summon calm and not be surprised by it. It takes one, max two breaths and then it's there.

I really like that thing you mentioned about the "pebble in a pond" idea, that feels like a good way of describing it.

 

It's like getting rid of that familiar feeling of modern society sensory overload, but i've been practicing my standing meditation and some of my qigong forms almost every day for about six months so it might just be that my focus and centering-skill has improved.

Or is it one of those "hightened states of awareness" that i've heard so much about?

[manitou]

I equate Hagar's experience with the consciousness of I Am, where your connection to the eternal is always with you. It lies underneath the fear of death at its deepest levels. when that fear's been conquered, what's left? (Actually, it's more of an embracing the concept of death as being the other side of birth). I also think it's a connection with the understanding that not always will you always be, you've always been.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

I equate Hagar's experience with the consciousness of I Am, where your connection to the eternal is always with you. It lies underneath the fear of death at its deepest levels. when that fear's been conquered, what's left? (Actually, it's more of an embracing the concept of death as being the other side of birth). I also think it's a connection with the understanding that not always will you always be, you've always been.

 

That connection never occurred to me before but i can dig that.

Im guessing that embracing the fear of death leads to embracing the concept of death wich (hopefully) leads to embracing life and that in turn eventually leads you to embrace the cycles of life and death.

I witnessed the death of a dear one up close once and to me it was like watching someone being born, but from "the other side" if you catch my drift? That feeling of the deep silence that permeates all things came around some months after that event, while dealing with grief and sorrow and the fear of death in a very understandable presence.

[doc benway]

As universal synchronicity would have it, very soon after reading hagar's post I came across these quotes in a book I'm reading (thanks Manitou!). Both seem to reflect that silence (or peace) that we can access as needed once we've tapped into the non-dual experience. I agree with Manitou that this is born of direct connection with the eternal.

 

1. Referring to the "peace that comes from within" which is the peace "of the awakened and conscious soul" that "nothing can disturb." "This state once attained enables a man to set aside a part of his nature into which he may retire when the troubles and strife of the outer life disturb him, and which immediately surrounds him with a peace "that passeth understanding," because it is beyond the realms of the understanding of the intellect."

 

2. "Establish for yourself a sanctuary of the soul, in which Silence reigns, and into which your tired soul may creep to rest, and recuperate. It is this peace to which the Yogis refer, when they say: "Peace be with Thee." And may it be with you all! And abide with you."

 

from - Advanced Courses in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism by Yogi Ramacharaka

[mYTHmAKER]

I find the silence in the space between my in and out breath

[manitou]

As universal synchronicity would have it, very soon after reading hagar's post I came across these quotes in a book I'm reading (thanks Manitou!). Both seem to reflect that silence (or peace) that we can access as needed once we've tapped into the non-dual experience. I agree with Manitou that this is born of direct connection with the eternal.

 

1. Referring to the "peace that comes from within" which is the peace "of the awakened and conscious soul" that "nothing can disturb." "This state once attained enables a man to set aside a part of his nature into which he may retire when the troubles and strife of the outer life disturb him, and which immediately surrounds him with a peace "that passeth understanding," because it is beyond the realms of the understanding of the intellect."

 

2. "Establish for yourself a sanctuary of the soul, in which Silence reigns, and into which your tired soul may creep to rest, and recuperate. It is this peace to which the Yogis refer, when they say: "Peace be with Thee." And may it be with you all! And abide with you."

 

from - Advanced Courses in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism by Yogi Ramacharaka

 

What a beautiful post, Steve - I'm glad to find a kindred spirit that appreciates that book. The paradoxes that are discussed are wonderful, in the later precepts.

 

"The peace that passeth all understanding". This is what my old Lutheran pastor would wish upon the congregation after each sermon. I know there are probably plenty of mature Christians, I just don't happen to know any of them around here in my part of the country. The ones that I know around here are still into fire and brimstone and God and Devil; they've not yet transcended their structure, which is a jungle gym that can only take you so high. But the concept of the Peace that Passeth all Understanding is exactly the counterpart to the stillness we're talking about here - that precious Silence upon you can rest in any situation, once you've developed the mind and the inner pathway to do so. As with the Tao. All the same stillness. What would a Buddhist call it, nirvana? I'm not sure. It's that stillness that leads me to Know that all is One.

 

So IMO the thing that's missing from the fundies is the knowledge that they have inner work to do; rather, it's much easier to believe that as long as we show up on Sundays and give an offering, and oh year, celebrate Jesus' birthday on December 25, well then, that ought to keep us out of the fiery place. But the mature Christian who has climbed out of this childlike structure and realizes that the true journey is an Inner one - then and only then will he find the peace he seeks.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

 

When I listen to music, the space from where the sound come from is much more present than the sound itself. Its as if what is real is not what fills the space. The silence feels like a diamond, indestructible.

 

 

Thanks for that post.

 

I can speak as a musician, that there are times when the silence dictates and it become more about letting the silence speak and be heard, while the notes just sort of connect the dots. I think that's more or less the purpose of some music, to draw attention to the nuance of the silence, using sound to interpret it for the listener. I suppose silence generally has it's own vibrations as well. There is still a harmony happening there. This is more or less where I came up with my name too as sometimes I feel like that silence is what I am.. or what we all are.. I suppose everything is....

 

Beautiful that you've been able to hear it

 

I believe this has a lot to do with the reason why traditional Native American elders will often be in silence together, 30 to 45 minutes at times, before they even begin to say anything. Their traditions hold Silence with tremendous reverence and respect. I think it may have been Black Elk who referred to "the silence that white men fear." Well, more of us are more tuned in now, I'd like to think, but there is certainly something being said there..

 

H.E.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Harmonious Emptiness

[Jeff]

Now I feel I can "drop" this stillness almost like a pebble in a pond, from above my head, into myself, and it quiets everything. Sitting at work, on my computer, I suddenly feel like I am in the mountains. Its that sense of silence. When this stillness touches some resistance or holding, it stops its descent. It may linger there until something shifts. Then I realize how much of my life is about avoiding that stillness. What is most radical is the feeling that in the midst of this silence, there is no meaning, no objective, no point. Its completely autonomous in the basic sence. It asks nothing, takes nothing, gives nothing.

 

When I listen to music, the space from where the sound come from is much more present than the sound itself. Its as if what is real is not what fills the space. The silence feels like a diamond, indestructible.

 

Beautiful description.

 

As Manitou said, it is the "I am". Eternal and silent. Sometimes it is also called the Witness.

 

Rest, but do not disengage. Always go beyond.

 

[manitou]

 

Beautiful that you've been able to hear it

 

 

 

 

Musician here too. The most beautiful moment of a symphony is the silence before the baton comes down. Everything beyond that is elimination of possibility. When the beat and feeling of the piece are allowed to come from that place of silence, it is then that Spirit manifests itself as a musical entity. I try for this very thing on keyboard.

[hagar]

Thank you all for great feedback! Will return to reply in detail later.

 

As it so happens, the whole silence thing left me the instant I pushed "add reply" to my last post.

 

Grappling with the loss, in a strange meta-reversal, to "be left by silence" isn't really a meaningful to say, spritually nor semantically.

 

I sense there is a humid and stagnant undergrowth of learning waiting for me here, but for now I linger in the experience lost.

 

h

Edited October 11, 2011 by hagar

[mYTHmAKER]

When comparing music systems the better system lets you hear more space between the notes.

When you listen to music on the radio it is usually compressed - less space between the notes - doesn't sound as good.

When you listen to music live there is space and it sounds so much better.

So yes it is the space, the silence, that is sublime.

 

It is the stillness in movement, entering the centered silence of Taijiquan.

Edited October 11, 2011 by mYTHmAKER

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Thank you all for great feedback! Will return to reply in detail later.

 

As it so happens, the whole silence thing left me the instant I pushed "add reply" to my last post.

 

Grappling with the loss, in a strange meta-reversal, to "be left by silence" isn't really a meaningful to say, spritually nor semantically.

 

I sense there is a humid and stagnant undergrowth of learning waiting for me here, but for now I linger in the experience lost.

 

h

 

Well, what this will contribute to your learning, is in recognizing that new spiritual experiences are as fragile as they are subtle.

 

As Native Americans are very protective of power dreams, so should we be of power experiences. They need to be nurtured in the womb before it is safe to bring them out in the open. Before they have grown to maturity and taken shape for us in a way that can survive the structured existence, they need to be kept inside. Otherwise, they will flee like birds from grasping hands.

 

I'm sure we all enjoyed the post, but in that case it may have been better for you to talk about other things in the meantime. Lucky for you, you have an effective guide to talk with about these things, however..

 

looking forward to your insights, sounds like a fruitful path

[Jeff]

Thank you all for great feedback! Will return to reply in detail later.

 

As it so happens, the whole silence thing left me the instant I pushed "add reply" to my last post.

 

Grappling with the loss, in a strange meta-reversal, to "be left by silence" isn't really a meaningful to say, spritually nor semantically.

 

I sense there is a humid and stagnant undergrowth of learning waiting for me here, but for now I linger in the experience lost.

 

h

 

It is always still there. Mind just gets busy and creates noise. Try just listening again.