silence

All Posts Tagged ‘silence’

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Negation (psychologically) and Silence…

September 15, 2022

Pretty much everybody is conditioned in myriads of different ways. It’s a big factor in why there is so much conflict in the world. Humans have different beliefs and ideas about how things should be done, and about what is best to do. All of our beliefs and ideas involve — and are the result of — time. These beliefs and ideas often result in conflict and friction. To go beyond this conflict without another method (in and “as” time) may involve negation and silence. Such silence is a wonderful negation (mentally) that does not involve time or methodology.

Most people, unfortunately, are conditioned to remain in time exclusively (in the mental sense). They habitually go from one set of symbolic sequences to another (unceasingly). It’s how they were educated (or miseducated) to be.

Great beauty and awareness exist beyond repetitive, sequential, mundane, symbolic mental patterns but most people are too afraid and conditioned to go beyond what they were programmed to be. And being afraid in such a way is just another extension of the stifling, dead conditioning.

**Dwindling in Numbers … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2022**

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June 9, 2022

23 comments

There is the silence of a still evening as the sun is setting when none of the beautiful trees have leaves moving or fluttering about. There is the limited silence between notes being played by a wonderful musical instrument. There is the echoless silence in a large theater when no one is there. There is the murmurless silence of a dragonfly peacefully resting.

Silence of the mind can be a most beautiful, spiritual, divine, and wise thing. True spiritual silence is not an act of will. Will is a projection of desire and will is never truly free, though many of us insist that it is. True spiritual silence that comes about naturally, spontaneously, without any cognitive/mental effort, can be a miraculous thing. It occurs when the mind is aware but is not merely accumulating or striving. Control has nothing to do with it, for control is in the pattern of the opposites and is manipulation toward an end; it is merely part of the cause/effect continuum. True spiritual silence is beyond ends to attain; it is beyond cause and effect patterns and sequences. Such silence is an explosion beyond the known… beyond the cunning and ludicrous patterns of man.

**Taking a break on the driveway … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2022**

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Holistic Silence and Bird Crap

November 16, 2021

18 comments

Holistic silence cannot be induced. It is not merely the result of some cause, either physically or mentally. One cannot make oneself be holistically silent. All effort, by the brain, involves motive… and motives are a result of desires and goals; with such effort, there is always a thing to be achieved, a reward to acquire.

A dynamic mind, that does not merely robotically bounce from one desire or one goal after another, may perhaps come upon (or manifest as) holistic silence. Holistic silence is not the result of any calculated direction, nor is it what merely radiates in limited and calculated directions. It cannot — as so many mundane things are — merely be recognized and pinpointed; this is one reason why one cannot “know” that one’s mind is of a holistic silence. It, being rather timeless, is beyond mere possession and acquiring. But perhaps it may occur when the mind perceives the conflict and limitations of thoughts, noisy mental images, and concocted mental patterns.

Holistic silence, perhaps a bit like the sun — we are using a crude analogy here — though it does not radiate in one, limited direction, can emanate with beautiful, miraculous effects. If we merely darkly, robotically, and habitually cling to one reacting thought after another — which most all of us do — then there will be little possibility (and space) for such dynamic, natural, bright silence to manifest. Thoughts are generally old, second-hand, residual, limited, of the past, and merely symbolic. If the mind — as most minds — is merely content to exist as one series of sequential thoughts after another, then (like what the previous sentence suggests) it is darkly moving from one sequence of old, limited, symbolic images to another. The new does not take place where the old merely is what is constantly repeating endlessly.

Understanding the mind, understanding thoughts and going beyond the habit of foolishly always merely being them — without technique — may perhaps open a door. Whether the magic of holistic silence flows through or not… well that is another matter…

****************************************************************************

Once there were three little birds effortlessly sitting in a tall tree
       They watched a man down below
       with his legs firmly crossed while trying to meditate

The birds were very curious as to why the man did not move
       They flew away, enjoyed life, and a good while later returned to the tree
       One of the birds defecated on the man's head

The man did not notice
       He was too busy craving for something to descend upon him
       He later went home (weighing a bit more than before)

**Closeup of a Cicada, the insects that make loud, symphonic sounds from the top of tall trees. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2021**

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Aloneness

November 22, 2019

7 comments

Real aloneness is that independence from all “influence.” It is that innocence that occurs when the mind is not tethered to achieving more and more and still more. It is to stand alone away from all influence, from all beliefs, traditions, suppositions, habits, fears, and conclusions. (Besides, beliefs and many iron-clad traditions tend to divide people and cause havoc in the world.)

Aloneness is when, without planning or effort, the mind is of an intelligent emptiness beyond mere thoughts and thinking. It does not occur when the mind consists of desires to get something out of such emptiness. Ambition and expectation have nothing to do with such emptiness manifesting. There is no acquisition or reaping involved with such emptiness. You don’t make yourself empty to “get something.”

When the limitations of thought/thinking in (and “as”) consciousness are intelligently seen, then there may be an abnegation due to seeing the false as the false. Clinging to falsities and limitations may involve effort akin to hugging onto shadows persistently.

That aloneness, that emptiness that is beyond falsities, is like an uncontaminated sky that is open, pure, and unspoiled by the activities of man.

**An alone Grasshopper … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019**

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Awareness vs. Conditioned Responsiveness…

November 19, 2017

21 comments

It is very difficult for people to fundamentally change. One realizes, all too well, that whatever is written here, and in my other posts, will likely not have much of a meaningful impact for most who are reading this. People cling to their traditions, to what they have absorbed in school and to what they swallowed from others in the distant past; they cling to deeply ingrained conditioning, and (though they claim that they are changing) they are unwilling to really drop all of that baggage. It is unfortunate that most people cannot radically and fundamentally change.

If one merely reads these posts, accepts much of what is written, and builds a bunch of mental constructs out of it… it is not what is truly blossoming whatsoever. Awareness flowers when there is a flowering beyond mere conditioned responsiveness. That flowering has nothing to do with effort, agreement, absorption, practice, or dead tradition. (There, of course, remain to be oodles of religions, armies, and experts who are all too willing to give you more of those essentially unflowering falsities.)

Most people are very good at responding and reacting. That is what they were trained (i.e., indoctrinated) to do… and it is what they were trained to remain as. Practicing something to “be” in some state beyond that may be a foolhardy waste of time. As was written in the “Being and Becoming” posting: “Being and becoming are essentially the same thing. Being, as does becoming, reinforces the self, the center, with its dependence on sensations, pleasure, and time.”

A person can go out in nature and then be a series of mere reactions… seeing everything through a screen of images and mental compilations that one has “absorbed” from previous others in (and “as” the past). Then, a separate image of self is projected as a learned reaction, as an obtrusion of thought/thinking, and seemingly and pretentiously identifies that with images and with other mental compilations involving nature; it then claims “I am one with nature.” Unfortunately, however, mere reactions and obtrusions of thought may not be “one” with much of anything. Seeing with (and from) the past (i.e., from stuffy, old memory and imagery) is existing in (and “as”) the past.

As was written in the “Being and Becoming” posting: The intelligent mind does not try to be in a state of being, does not try to be what is non-becoming, nor does it try to be in a state of non-being. Such trying would be a further extension of becoming and would reinforce the self and its dependence upon time. In (psychologically) not trying to be or not be… the mind may naturally blossom as what is beyond greed, dependence (on others for how to get there), and measurement.

Awareness involves a depth, love, and a total perception that the limited domain of mere reaction cannot fathom. Such awareness, such love, and perception — though they are not separate things — go beyond being, beyond becoming, beyond measurement. Eternity is involved in such awareness.

Beyond words (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

Beyond words (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Silence

September 17, 2017

6 comments

The silence of a very aware mind is not what can be measured. Such pure silence goes beyond recognition; recognition (of separate things that the mind labels and pigeon-holes) is — or involves — measurement. The mind can, at times, beautifully function without merely relying on measurement, without exclusively relying on recognition, patterns of experience, and interpretation of stimuli. “Mostpeople” would not likely be involved with this immeasurable silence because remaining in sequential thinking, recognition, and constant comparison and measurement are what they were educated (i.e., programmed) to be. Leaving the domain of the known would seem frightening to a lot of people. Many may equate such silence, such emptiness, with ignorance; however, a vast, immeasurable silence, in actuality, is profound intelligence. “Mostpeople” rigidly cling to patterns of recognition, symbolic thought (and all thoughts are symbols), labels, and separative images. Going beyond these would seem unthinkable to most.

One cannot “know” that one is in such silence when it takes place, for such “knowing” would be in the realm of recognition and would negate the very essence of a silence beyond mere measurement. Such silence is beyond merely calculated patterns and sequential formulations concocted by man; this is why gurus and so-called holy men who want to provide you with techniques to “get there” are definitely out (including the fees that they often fraudulently charge)! One who is lucky enough to be involved with such silence is not in any way harmed but, rather, may be blessed to be in relationship with a timeless energy that is forever renewing itself. Such silence can never be brought about by an act of will; will is (fundamentally) desire… and desire can never attain such unadulterated silence via effort of any kind. It would be like trying to catch the wind (or catch love) in a bottle. The highly intelligent mind, through seeing and understanding itself in relationship (and in seeing itself, without deception, in everyday occurrences) may, with understanding, move beyond the psychological dependencies and repetitious mental habits that most exist as. Understanding transcends mere measurement and will. The immeasurable may occur for the man (or woman) who goes beyond the limited, the merely symbolic, and the stagnant. In the immeasurable, eternity abides. The immeasurable and the eternal are without confining borders. The gurgling sounds of the drinking Mallards are not something separate from a vast, immeasurable silence.

Mallard Ducks (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

Mallard Ducks (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Silence beyond mere thinking…

July 24, 2016

24 comments

When i was very young, in grade school, i — one day, without motive — went into a profound silence beyond thinking and had the insight that doing so was a wholly different, wonderful form of consciousness. “Form,” in the aforementioned sentence, is rather misleading because going beyond thinking is of no real form or pattern, otherwise it is just standard “thinking.” Back then i didn’t name this “meditation” or “mindfulness” or anything whatsoever because such words were — at such a young age — foreign to me. I did have the insight that this is a “very special” way of being; it continued to take place on occasion now and then for a long time. It was only later, in college, when one began seriously enquiring into the mind and into spirituality, that words for this (as inadequate as they are) began to take place.

Fortunately, when one was in high school, one became interested in hypnosis and self-hypnosis. I was wise enough to realize the dangers and limitations of self-hypnosis and saw that it tended to constrain and curb the mind, keeping it in a narrow and circumscribed area. While away at college, when attending yoga meditation events given by people from Asia — who claimed to be gurus offering special mantras — i quickly realized that this (i.e., what they were offering) involved (and was) a subtle form of self-hypnosis, which i did not wish to have anything to do with. Anything you repeat over and over again to “get spirituality” is not legitimate as far as i am concerned. Repeating a series of words, no matter how “special” they are claimed to be, is just rather mechanical and is a mesmerizing waste of time. Even repeating silence, within (and “as”) the mind, to “get spirituality,” is also likely a big waste of time. Grasping and effort never lead to true spirituality. It is like trying to catch the wind.

Thoughts are always symbolic, always fractional and piecemeal. The intelligent mind uses thoughts often, efficiently, and prudently. Thoughts, all thoughts, however, are merely tools. They are limited patterns and symbols to solve problems and to help one to function well in life. Merely remaining as the tools, accepting them as the essence of what one is (as so many do), however, would be foolish. Going beyond these tools, not merely to “get spiritual,” not to “get or attain anything,” may be a sagacious, brilliant way of functioning. Then silence is silence (not “for” something); it is beautifully what it is without ulterior motives or aspirations. Then one does not fabricate mere outer or inner symbols into what one calls “spiritual”; deception is unlikely for a mind of true insight, true silence. Thoughts, for so many of us, are like habitual repetitions… not, in actuality, so very different from what self-hypnosis entails. The wise mind goes beyond this circumscribed (hemmed in) state of unbeing.

Ready to launch (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Ready to launch (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Real silence and a rather dead kind of silence… (Multi-Photo)

April 24, 2015

8 comments

Do not merely make a meditative silence into something that is isolated and separate from noise in life. Be very careful in what you accept and do. In all probability, a separate silence that is cultivated, that is practiced at a special time or place, is a rather second-hand, merely learned, rather dead, kind of silence. Actual, profound silence is an effortless phenomenon that occurs without premeditation, beyond calculation, and beyond techniques involving time. As such it is a timeless phenomenon that may occur often, spontaneously throughout the day (without some separate controller “making it happen”), such as while one is walking, looking at nature, petting a dog or cat, or exercising. If it occurs at all, it occurs naturally, without any false effort expended by a supposed “center” or “controller” that is essentially a learned image (involving separation). It (i.e., such deep silence) is not something that is isolated from the rest of life. It is of life, in life; it permeates life, it flows with life. Real life is not something that is practiced; it is something that is lived. To manipulate the mind into some isolated silence may be like trying to catch the wind in a sealed bottle. Attempting to confine the wind in a separate, little, “special” space — called a bottle — may be rather ludicrous.