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Awakening in Silence by David Simon, M.D. The great paradox of exploring silence is that ultimately we cant experience it with our mind or encapsulate its essence in words. To enter a deep state of stillness and silence, we have to go beyond the minds constant stream of thoughts into the field of pure awareness. In our dynamic, goal-oriented world, we dont usually spend much time or attention cultivating this quality of awareness, but it has been my experience that learning to surrender to silence nurtures all aspects of life including our environment, our body, our relationships, our creative expression, our heart, and soul. The Sufis and Taoists say that those who say, dont know; and those who know, dont say. So the fact that Im willing to spend a few words discussing silence may imply to the reader that I dont know, but Ill take my chances because I believe that if this exploration helps you weave even just a little more silence and peace into your daily life, the benefits will be profound.
Learning to Listen If you close your eyes right now and listen to your environment, you may hear the traffic moving on the street below, the television in the next apartment, or the refrigerator humming in your kitchen. These sounds contribute to the ambient noise of modern life, which we usually filter out of our conscious awareness. Even if you are in a completely silent setting, you may still notice an ongoing level of activity that is independent of your surroundings. The source of this activity is your mind, which hosts the continual inner conversation you are having with yourself. Notice that you dont have to try to think; the thoughts keep bubbling up from an inexhaustible source. Noticing our minds constant inner dialogue is actually a cause for celebration, for until we become aware that we are having thoughts, we usually believe that we are our thoughts and that were defined by a continuous pattern of memories and anticipations. Freedom begins when we are able to transcend the thought traffic and start to shift our identity to the silent witness that is not bound in time or space. This inner silent witness observes all the thoughts, emotions, sensations, and experiences unfolding in our life without getting caught up in the stories, repetitive thought-loops, and conditioned reactions that keep our mind in bondage. You can connect with the witness right now by noticing what youre thinking and then asking yourself Who is the one who is thinking? The aspect of yourself that is able to observe your thoughts as well as your answer is the silent witness.
# Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Learning to still the minds dialogue opens the door to a domain of silence that has the potential to heal and transform your life. As you tap into this inner silence, you begin the process of shifting your internal reference point from ego to soul, from fear to love, from anxiety to peace, and from constriction to expansion. There are many ways to access the field of silence, yet I have found that one of the most powerful and systematic approaches is the practice of meditation.
A Tale of Two Minds I remember my first experience of meditation when I was in the seventh or eighth grade. I had a remarkably conscious social studies teacher named Mr. Schacko. One day when we were studying a lesson on Eastern philosophy, he introduced the idea of meditation. He said, You know, in the Western world, we take great pride in having a very active, creative, dynamic mind. In some way or another, the underlying belief of the Western mind-set could be summarized as whoever has the most thoughts, wins. In contrast, in certain parts of the Eastern world, such as India, Nepal, and Tibet, theres a much greater appreciation for a quiet mind. So we have these two world views, Mr. Schacko continued. The one were immersed in is about keeping our minds active, having our thoughts going all the time, and memorizing lots of information. Then theres the Eastern view, which is focused on how we can find silence. When my teacher introduced this concept to my class, most of my fellow students thought it was very funny. It seemed like it was so easy to have a quiet mind. Why was it such a big deal? Then Mr. Schacko said, Okay, right now everybody close your eyes and see how long you can go without having a thought. Of course, anyone who has practiced meditation even once knows that it doesnt take long before we have thoughts. And I remember my very first thought was Uh oh . . . what if they are right? And what if having a big, active mind isnt the best use of our awareness? Although I didnt know it at the time, this was my first real introduction to meditation and it has stayed with me for more than forty-five years. I learned that the ability to quiet our mind and experience silence is a practice that requires attention and cultivation.
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$ Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Several years later when I was a young college student, all things Eastern seemed to be exploding on the Western cultural front. I was once again exposed to the concept of meditation and quieting the mind, and I started to realize that we in the West have been really afraid of the emptiness that often accompanies silence. When we havent embraced silence, we seek fulfillment and gratification through achievement, material possessions, sensory experiences, and status; but no matter how much we acquire, the pleasure we glean is transitory and only partially satisfying. Its as if were trying to stave off the anxiety and discomfort that are bubbling just below the surface by filling our minds with thoughts and engaging in perpetual activity and busyness. We may do this in a thousand subtle ways automatically turning on the radio when we get into the car, opening the refrigerator to grab a snack when we find ourselves alone and bored on a quiet Sunday afternoon, feeling uneasy about a long silence in a conversation and rushing to fill it with our words.
Honoring the Sabbath Queen Growing up, I can remember how my family seemed to value busyness and outward productivity over taking time to quiet down and be still. I was brought up in the Jewish tradition, and as a young boy, we celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday. Although the stated intention of honoring this day of rest was to take quiet time and connect with family and friends, many people, including my family, used the day to catch up on activities they hadnt been able to finish during the week. As I was growing up, I didnt have a sense that the Sabbath was considered a sacred day of rest. I recently was talking with a Chabad rabbi who told me that in some mystical Jewish traditions, the Sabbath was considered an opportunity to transcend the daily activity of life and experience a different domain of reality. The rabbi explained that in the Chabad tradition, the sacred Sabbath wasnt simply about stopping work for the day, but rather was about embracing a completely different state of consciousness in which time and space disappear. The metaphor that has been used for thousands of years is inviting the Sabbath queen into your heart and soul and mind and celebrating for that day. It is as if by stepping out of time, we free ourselves from the constrictions, fears, and separation that keep us trapped in a mode of constant doing and striving. After twenty- four hours, the Sabbath queen brings us back into time and space what we normally consider reality. And yet by touching the realm of the sacred and going beyond our usual mundane thoughts, when we come back into our daily lives, returning to school, work, and our usual patterns of activity some remnant or residual memory of transcendent wholeness stays with us, reminding us of the paradox that we can be in this world but not of it.
% Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Like honoring the Sabbath, meditation is about taking time to experience the stillness and silence that lie below all the busy thoughts and activities that usually preoccupy us. Taking time to close our eyes, quiet our mind, and go within offers a profound opportunity to go beyond our egos tight identification with the transitory aspects of our personality and personal lives and connect more deeply with our essential nature, which is infinite and eternal. Then when emerge from our meditation, our mind is refreshed and were able to see the same experiences from a slightly different perspective one imbued with the peace and clarity we have tapped into during meditation. This is the basis of authentic love, healing, creativity, and transformation.
Questions about Silence As Ive thought about silence and explored the subject with friends and family, Ive noticed some common themes and questions that Id like to explore here. 1.) Why does the human mind seem to have a reluctance to experience silence? When people begin to practice meditation and other technologies to quiet the mind, they may experience a sense of discomfort ranging from restlessness to actual agitation. Its common to feel resistance in part because so many of us grew up with nearly constant sensory and mental stimulation. If weve never sat quietly with our eyes closed, opening to silence may feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable at first. Yet the shift from outer activity to inner awareness ultimately allows us to generate an internal state of peace and happiness that is independent of the people, situations, and circumstances around us. With practice, the transition from activity to silence reduces stress and becomes the source of our most blissful state of awareness. Investing the time and energy to go through this transition is well worth it. When the mind quiets, we experience the silent space between thoughts. And the thoughts that do arise are less conditioned and come from deeper, less predictable, and less familiar layers of awareness. The philosopher Alan Watts described this as the wisdom of uncertainty, which reminds us that in the ambiguity of life, we drop into a deeper domain of awareness that touches the sacred source of all evolutionary impulses. Since uncertainty is woven into the fabric of creation, we cannot always accurately predict which sensations will unfold happiness or sadness, pleasure or pain, enthusiasm or emotional constriction, love or hostility. Yet stepping into the unknown, while sometimes terrifying, is what makes life compelling, powerful, and meaningful. In addition, as we become more experienced travelers in the realm of silence, we can learn how to consciously choose interpretations that generate more comfort than distress.
& Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. The mind is complicated. We will never master it because its very nature is to generate new impulses, ideas, concepts, and associations. As long as the mind, with its innate paradoxes, is the dominant place we live, we will experience some level of discomfort. Expanding our sense of self to deeper dimensions of awareness in which we can embrace ambiguities and contradictions accelerates our ability to experience silence.
Exercise: Noticing the Mind As an exercise to expand awareness and enhance witnessing, close your eyes and begin observing the thoughts that arise. Notice that the mind is a thought-generating organ that is constantly giving rise to memories and desires, as well as attending to impulses that arise from within or without.
Our patterns of thought have a lifetime of karma or conditioning woven into them. As the ancient Vedic epic the Bhagavad Gita states, unfathomable is the field of karma. Knowing this, we want to increase the likelihood that we generate thoughts that promote happiness, comfort, and the greatest possibility for success. Simply moving to a witnessing mode with the intention of enhancing relaxation expands our silence and creativity. Whether by conditioning or by nature, when we are with other people, particularly those with whom we are not necessarily very intimate, we tend to avoid or distract ourselves from silence. This is the basis of small talk, which seems driven by the human impulse to keep the noise going. I suspect that we tend to engage in small talk because even if what were communicating is of relatively low value, the fact that vibrations are flowing enhances our sense of connection and unity. Although it is not a common practice within most families and communities, cultivating unity in silence is worthwhile and allows for creative possibilities to unfold that are not available to us when we fill mental spaces with chatter.
Relinquishing the Mind The rewards and benefits of not succumbing to the resistance that silence may engender are of immeasurable worthiness. However, we cannot impose silence on the mind. The seeds of silence will germinate when the soil of awareness is right. Throughout my lifetime of teaching meditation and practicing medicine, I have seen many cases in which someone who was unable to sustain a meditation practice at one point, was able to easily embrace a mind-quieting practice at another time. When a person is not ready to meditate, its almost impossible to force it. And when someone is ready, there is almost nothing that will keep him or her from it. Ive seen it both ways. Sometimes peoples lives are so turbulent that they are desperate for quiet and turn to meditation as a technique for cultivating inner calm and
' Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. peace. And at other times, peoples lives are so joyful and creative that they embrace meditation as a way of reinforcing their access to the underlying creative silence.
I encourage you to be awake to the opportunities to make silence a regular aspect of your life, and I invite you to see silence not as something to be feared but as one of the most nurturing aspects of life. I have noticed that each of us has a certain tolerance for silence. When our lives are extremely turbulent, we long for a settling of the mind and put our attention on behaviors on practices that reduce the level of chaos. On the other hand, it is not uncommon to feel bored when there is too much silence. Most of us have a natural rhythm of consciousness that ranges between turbulence and boredom. Notice as a practice that when your life is too stable, you may end up unconsciously making choices that generate chaos; on the other hand, when your life is too turbulent you will naturally gravitate towards choices that encourage quieting of the mind. The more awareness you can bring to the rhythm of silence and activity, the more readily you can choose where on the spectrum your life is best served.
2.) What is the best style of meditation to encourage quieting of the mind? Any technique that supports a sense of comfort, joy, peace, and optimism can make a valuable contribution to quieting our minds. At some level, the mind has a natural tendency to become quiet because it is built into our essential fabric to move in the direction of greater happiness. Since the expansion of happiness is the purpose of life, choices that generate bliss will be more attractive than choices that generate stress. Therefore, each of us has an internal gage as to which meditation practices are most useful and desirable. If a particular meditation technique leads to expansion of awareness, creativity, playfulness, joy, and freedom, it is a sign that your practice is on the right track. If, on the other hand, your practice leads to straining, discomfort, or a sense of rigidity, despite how expertly you may be practicing the technique, it will generally not serve the higher purpose of meditation, which is the expansion of awareness. There are many different techniques to quiet the mind, and almost any consciously applied practice can be meditative. These are a few meditation suggestions that I encourage you to try, observing how they influence your mind and body: Take a walk in silence. Simply pay attention to the sounds, sensations, sights, tastes, and smells in your environment without engaging in conversation. In the mere process of witnessing of your experiences, you will find that your mind quiets and your awareness of your connection to the whole is enhanced.
( Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Pay attention to your breath. From the moment we are born to the last impulse of our life, we are generating an inflow and outflow of breath that directly connects us with the rhythm of nature. Its as if the universe is performing cardiopulmonary life support on us throughout our waking, dreaming, and sleeping experiences. Bringing our awareness to the breath, even when our mind is turbulent, can awaken greater silence. Taking a slow, deep breath when we notice that our lives are turbulent can accelerate the process of returning to balanced, comfortable awareness. Practice yoga. Physical yoga practices, when performed with awareness, can encourage settling of the mind. Although the word yoga has been usurped by promoters of its physical aspects to support flexibility, strength, and balance, the essence of yoga is the cultivation of unity. When performed with present moment awareness, stretching the body with focused attention will quiet the mind. Even just five to ten minutes of conscious movement can support hours of meditative peace. Focus on the five senses. Any of the five senses can be used as a meditation technology to enhance silence. Listening to the sounds of nature, such as birds, the wind, and moving water, with the intention of witnessing, will quiet awareness. As anyone who has received a massage will confirm, being touched in a loving, conscious way quietly expands the mind. Observing beautiful images can bring our attention into the present and still our emotional turmoil. Ingesting delicious flavors can reduce the tendency of our awareness to be distracted and bring us to the present. Aromas that distinguish themselves from the usual routine smells can bring attention to a focused mind. This is why in many meditative traditions, people are encouraged to burn incense or diffuse aromatherapies. Chanting, either listening to others or expressing these vibrations yourself, has traditionally been used to meditate for thousands of years. Almost every spiritual and religious culture has a tradition of consciously choosing rhythmic vibrations to bring awareness from past and future to the present. Performing or listening to chants from the Vedic, Christian, African, Buddhist, Jewish, or other traditions will still the mind and allow the gaps between the thoughts to emerge.
Mantra Meditation For decades, we at the Chopra Center have been applying consciously chosen mantras as vehicles to move awareness from constriction to expansion. The use of mantra, a word that means mind vehicle is an ancient practice for settling awareness without straining or concentrating. These devices tend to be pleasant resonant sounds that have a vibratory quality without accessing the meaning quality of the mantra.
) Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. When we say the word flower, there are two components: one is the meaning, which may conjure up visual and olfactory experience. The other is the actual vibratory quality, to which we have assigned an association between the word and its definition. Flower in Spanish is flora; in Italian, fiorire; and in French, fleur. In each case, we associate a vibratory quality with an experience, but this is at least in part arbitrary, based upon tradition. Unlinking the relationship between sound and meaning enables us to utilize the transcending, enhancing quality of the mantra because in this context, the vibration does not automatically require the invoking of a meaning. There are thousands of ancient mantras. The universal mantra is the sound Aum, which is said to be the vibration of the universe moving from silence to activity and back to silence. The A component is the expression of the beginning, in which the world moves from unmanifest to manifest. The U represents the maintenance of the experience, temporarily captured in time and space. And the M is that which expresses dissolution of the individuation, allowing for the vibration to settle back into silence. We can couple the sound with the breath, but will probably soon discover that your awareness transcends both the mantra and the breath as your mind settles and your body relaxes. I encourage you to explore various technologies to see which meditative practices resonate with your physiology so that you have ready and reliable access to silence. After a while you will find that simply closing your eyes becomes a meditative practice, one that very effortlessly takes your mind from activity to silence. Because it is more comfortable to have peace than turbulence, with a little practice it will become easy for you to meditate and to reap the benefits of mind-quieting practices.
3.) What is the relationship between meditation and spirituality? Although meditation does not need to be associated with spiritual unfoldment, it seems that when one practices meditation regularly, we cannot help but have thoughts about God. Perhaps this is because God lives within the gap of the mind, and when that dimension is not occupied with obsessive thoughts about the past or the future, God wanders in to fill that space.
In a sense, even when were thinking about God, the very thought of the divine squeezes out the sacred. Words are intrinsically restrictive because the very nature of language is to differentiate one thought from another. When I say that youre beautiful, intelligent, and kind, Im implying that youre not ugly, dim-witted, or mean. However, if were being honest, we all know that each of us can be beautiful and ugly, intelligent and foolish, kind and mean.
* Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. It is the nature of the languaging mind to dichotomize the world into pluses and minuses; it is not the nature of life. We use our mind to define ourselves. It has been fascinating as I lose my mind as a consequence of my illness to recognize that I have a mind but Im not my mind. In actuality, we are the silent witnessing awareness that gives rise to thoughts in the mind and sensations in the body. Embracing Unity One of the most curious, amusing, and, at times, distressing aspects of language is the use of the word God. Many conflicts have been encouraged and sustained as a result of that vibration. In the name of God, both wonderful and terrible actions have been performed, and still today people feel justified in committing violent acts under the guise of divine guidance. One cant help but suspect that if God didnt have a sense of humor, she would feel tremendously disappointed in our human application of her name. Therefore, a vital question to ask is How do we cultivate the concept of God as a unifying rather than as a dividing force of life? One of my dear friends, Beth Nielsen Chapman, has a song with the line Im a Hindu Buddhist Jew Islamist Christian. This wonderful expression reminds us that the essence of divinity is the embracing of diversity. If in the name of God we find ourselves creating more rigid boundaries, conflict, judgment, or fear, God is not being served and she is not serving us. If, on the other hand, the thought of God brings about joy, flexibility, creativity, laughter, and love, God becomes a vehicle for celebration. How do we allow God into our minds, bodies, relationships, and life? We stop squeezing the divine out through our preconceived notions of what is sacred and what is profane. When we assume the mind-set that everything is ultimately divine, though sometimes more disguised than others, then we can see that all of our thoughts, impulses, and desires arise from and can bring us back to awareness of the sacred. My beloved Hafiz expressed this idea beautifully in the following poem: Pray to be humble So that God does not Have to be so stingy. O pray to be honest. Strong. Kind. And pure. So that the Beloved is never miscast As a cruel great miser.
!+ Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. I know that you have a hundred complex cases Against God in court. But never mind wayfarer, Let's just get of this mess. And pray to be loving and humble So that the Friend will be forced to reveal Himself So Near. (Source: Let's just get of this mess fromThe Gift, translated by Daniel Ladinsky)
When our awareness is open, God is not hiding but rather tickling us at every moment of creation to get our attention. Cultivating and embracing uncertainty expands our capacity for the divine. Uncertainty resides in silence. The more uncertainty we can integrate into our daily life, the more silence will resonate in our experience, and the more our comfort with detachment will be enhanced. In almost every spiritual tradition, divinity is associated with creativity God is the creator and creativity arises from possibilities rather than from preconceived notions to which we become consciously or unconsciously attached. Meditation, by encouraging the quieting of thoughts, the embracing and the awakening of silence, invites the sacred into our lives and transforms even day-to-day, mundane experiences into a celebration of God. It is possible to simply utilize mind-quieting practices as technologies to relieve stress, and this is a worthwhile and valuable application. However, the chances are that if you take time to quiet your mind and go within, the divine will use this opportunity to enter into your life. Its interesting that when our minds are active, divinity tends to hide, whereas when there is even a little bit of quieting, the sacred becomes enthusiastic and rejoices in the opportunity to connect more deeply with the underlying universal field that we refer to as God. We sense that were moving into the realm of divinity when our potential joy begins to expand and we can barely contain our bliss as our bodies, hearts, and minds recognize the precious gift of a human incarnation. Then God co-creates our essential divinity, inextricably linking the silence of meditation with the experience of the sacred.
4.) How do we integrate silence into our communication with others?
!! Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Silence can be unifying or divisive. For most of us, not speaking implies not connecting. If were upset with someone, we may stop talking to them, give them the cold shoulder, or simply withhold information that we know the other person is seeking. As a child, you may have been given the silent treatment as a punishment by your parents, caregivers, siblings or friends. As an adult, if a friend hurts your feelings, you may ignore their phone calls for a time, cutting off communication to send the message (albeit passive) that you are unhappy with their behavior. One of the first papers I read as an anthropology student was a report by Walter Cannon entitled Voodoo Death. Dr. Cannon recounted numerous cases of people who were literally frightened to death. Most of these descriptions were from aboriginal cultures of South America, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia and involved situations in which an individual had violated a tribal taboo. As punishment, the chief medicine man placed a curse on the person, declaring that he or she was no longer among the living. From that moment forth, the individual was treated as a ghost, completely ignored by other tribal members. Cannon wrote that within days to weeks, many of these outcasts expired of circulatory collapse. They died from the stress of being isolated and cut off from family and community. Even though our culture extols the value of rugged individualism, we each feel a profound need to feel connected and part of a greater whole. When we feel isolated and disconnected, while were unlikely to expire in the sudden and dramatic way described by Dr. Cannon, we are likely to experience emotional pain.
Interpreting Silence Since it can be difficult to interpret the meaning of another persons silence, we may have to do some work to sort it out. It can be helpful to realize that the assignment of value to silence and speaking also has a cultural component. In the West we tend to fill in every gap of silence with words. Ive observed that people from Eastern cultures generally embrace silence and are comfortable when conversation drop away and the participants remain quiet. However, as we practice mind-quieting techniques, we recognize that communication can occur even without the use of vibrating vocal chords. Being connected in silence is often more fulfilling and profound than creating the connection through verbal language. When we are in an open-hearted, open-minded space, just our presence communicates our awareness of our essential interrelatedness and unity. We can often more lovingly express our awareness in silence than through the words that we choose. Knowing this, we can cultivate a skill set in which silence and language can be expressed simultaneously. In order to benefit from this possibility of integrating both silence and sound into your communications skills, I encourage you to commit to a meditative practice that brings
!# Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. your awareness to the junction point between silence and activity, between a quiet mind and an active, creative mind. We have the capacity to bring our awareness to both the silent ocean of unboundedness and the waves that this unboundedness is able to generate. The more readily that we can access silence and activity in our daily life, the more we experience creative thought, the more comfortably and playfully we experience the world, and the more profoundly we feel the value of silence. The essence of communication is the transmission of uncertainty. When we use vibration consciously, we stir the silence to transmit possibilities that were otherwise latent. This expands our awareness, creativity, and our enthusiasm for life and enables us to resonate in the junction point between silence and sound.
5.) One resistance that we have to silence is that it seems so serious. Since the purpose of life is the expansion of happiness, how does this reconcile with silence? Silence is the basis of laughter. When someone tells a joke, it usually follows a specific pattern. At first we set up a pathway that tells a story or expresses a perspective that seems familiar and predictable and is likely to lead to an anticipated outcome then, just as we are becoming complacent in our expectation of where the communication is proceeding, direction is changed, surprising us in a way that temporarily stops mental activity, encourages the opening of the gap, and allows some new idea or unexpected interpretation to emerge. If the content and timing are just right, there is a brief opening into silence with a reversal of expectation which leads to a wave of joy, which we experience as a burst of laughter. For example, as the debate over President Obamas nationality was raging, the comedian Jay Leno said, Before I demand a birth certificate for Obama, I would like to see a certificate for Donald Trumps hair. Even after hearing it several times it still brings a wave of laughter into my bodymind because the response is so unexpected and unpredictable.
Laughters Healing Power The healing system of Ayurveda teaches us that nourishing our five senses enlivens our health and well-being. I have found that its just as important to cultivate our sixth sense . . . our sense of humor. Weve all found ourselves facing difficult circumstances, mired in worry. When a good friend calls and has us laughing at ourselves, were reminded that there is more than one way to view a situation. The very experience of laughter shifts our perspective and opens us to new possibilities. We feel internally tickled as we make a connection between the predictable way of looking at a situation in an offbeat way.
!$ Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Many studies have demonstrated the psychological and physical health benefits of laughter. It not only improves blood pressure and respiratory function but has also been shown to enhance immune functioning. Studies conducted by scientists at Loma Linda University suggest that one good belly laugh enhances immune function for twenty-four hours. Years ago, Norman Cousins, the editor of the Saturday Review, developed an autoimmune disease and his physicians offered no optimistic approach to treatment. Rather than surrendering to the dismal prognosis, he rented Marx Brothers films, which he watched for several hours a day. The only negative side effect was that the somber hospital staff complained that he was disturbing the other patients, but despite the staffs concerns, he participated in this laughter medicine and cured himself of this otherwise untreatable condition. The expression laughter is the best medicine has validity. At some of our healing courses at the Chopra Center, we ask participants to bring a joke or funny story that we share with the group as a way of invoking the positive health benefits of laughter. Of course, laughter can also be accompanied by sarcasm and can occasionally come at someone elses expense. Therefore its useful to recognize that humor can be both a tool for well-being as well as a source of distress. The subtle use of laughter can invoke joy and healing, but it also can create discomfort if not used with sensitivity.
Laughter Is Contagious Im not sure what hyenas are feeling when they express their sounds, but for the most part, human beings are unique in the natural embracing and expressing of humor and laughter in their lives. Even infants at the young age of a few months spontaneously smile and coo, and parents invest elaborate efforts to evoke that response through making funny faces, tickling, singing, and physical play. There is something intrinsically liberating about smiling and laughing, and something fulfilling about getting others to do the same. When we have a laughter session at one of our courses at the Chopra Center, it often starts with people not remembering a single joke and feeling self-conscious, but once someone begins, its as if a channel of laughter opens and people tap into the humorous stream of life. Laughter allows us to temporarily step outside our space-bound and time-bound state and touch the field of awareness that is boundless and eternal. The American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, Humor is a prelude to faith, and laughter is the beginning of prayer. Of course, discussing the value of laughter is about as fulfilling as talking about eating a delicious meal or making love. The benefit is not in the description but in the
!% Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. experience, so I encourage you to lighten up. Look for humor in life and give yourself opportunities to embrace the paradox, allowing joy and the healing value of laughter to permeate your life. Relationships that have space for laughter tend to thrive and enhance our love and intimacy.
6.) What is the relationship between silence and death? As soon as we engage in a human experience, we are embracing the process by which life unfolds. Everything in this relative world of form and phenomenon moves through three stages of expression: creation, maintenance, and dissolution perhaps more easily understood as beginnings, middles, and endings. As a wave emerges from the ocean of life, the wave differentiates itself, sustains itself, and then returns to its universal form. This awareness of the threefold expression permeates wisdom traditions, reminding us to connect with this pervasive principle. An individual is born, grows up, and eventually dies. An idea arises, takes shape in the manifest world, and then dissipates. A flower blossoms, diffuses its fragrance, and then fades. Its intrinsically more joyful for things to be born than for them to die. Seeing a new flower bloom brings usually brings more happiness than watching it wither. The passion and playfulness of a new relationship usually generates more bliss than its ending. However, death is a part of life, for an ending is inherent in every beginning. Learning to embrace the inevitable finality of circumstances, relationships, people, and things, is an essential aspect of living a conscious life.
The Most Amazing Thing About Human Beings As Ive been navigating my illness, I cannot but be aware of the fact that sometime, almost certainly sooner rather than later, I will not exist as an individual personality. Although each of us faces this reality, none of us actually understands what it means. I certainly dont. There is an insightful story from the Bhagavad Gita in which the five heroic Pandava brothers are banished to wander the countryside. After many days, they are lost in a forest and about to die of thirst. They are overjoyed to come across a lake of crystal clear water. The youngest brother, Nakula, kneels down and is about to scoop up some of the precious water in his palm to drink when a magical crane commands him, Stop! I am the one who owns this lake and you must answer my questions before drinking or you will die. Nakula ignores the crane, takes a sip, and promptly keels over. This happens with three more brothers, leaving us to wonder if anyone is paying attention. The fifth brother, Yudhisthira, takes the warning seriously, however, and agrees to try answering the cranes questions. There are a series of eighteen different riddles, but the one that I find to be most interesting is this: What is the most amazing thing about human beings?
!& Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Of course, I did not get the correct answer but this might be a good time for you to come up with what you think the best response to the cranes question is before reading on. According to the story, the most amazing thing about being a human being is that despite the fact that every day people around us are dying, each of us still believes and acts as if we will live forever. On some level, we are actually fortunate that were able to live in a state of denial about our mortality because if we were perpetually aware of our ephemeral nature, we might experience an anxiety disorder or depression. But if we were able to completely deny our mortality, we might not appreciate the transitory gift of a human incarnation. If offered a choice between a beautiful, freshly picked rose and a plastic one, most people would more highly value the natural flower precisely because it is impermanent. Our very awareness that this expression of life will die awakens our appreciation for its existence.
Embracing the Unknown It is natural to be afraid of death because it is the ultimate unknown. Death seems so permanent in that when someone dies, with rarely reported exceptions, they do not return. On the one hand, this encourages us to fully embrace life. Even the most awakened, enlightened people on the planet, when facing their impending ending, probably feel some reluctance to fully let go of their personhood. But since theres nothing we can really do about it, learning to surrender with grace and appreciation is a skill that will serve us both in life and hopefully in death. This is where our spiritual practices of meditation and yoga and contemplation can better prepare us for the inevitable surrender of our individuality. The more deeply we can embrace our own silence through meditation, the more authentically and comfortably we can embrace our death, for ultimately silence, meditation, deep sleep, and death are expressions (actually, non-expressions) of the same phenomenon, which is that aspect of life that has the potential, but not the manifestation, of individuality. Conscious listening is an important aspect of integrating silence and creativity. If you have the tendency to obsessively fill in silence with noise, consciously attend to stilling the mental turbulence and listening to the creative impulses that are seeking to arise from a deeper domain of your awareness. When you can readily access silence in your own awareness, you will experience creative solutions to both inner and outer questions and challenges in your life and gain the confidence that you can participate with the sacred to manifest your deepest desires.
7.) How can we use silence to awaken creativity in our lives?
!' Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. Creativity implies that something that did not previously exist has now manifested in the world of form and phenomena. The Buddhists like to ask, What was the appearance of your face before you were born? and in many ways this question underlies all of life. Where do things come from? From where do thoughts arise? How does something come out of nothing? These questions are great mysteries, and any insight into the answers will enhance our day-to-day life and empower us to create a meaningful existence. Although the belief that we create our own reality has become popular in some New Age circles, if were being honest with ourselves, we will recognize that while we do have power over how we direct our intentions and attention, most of what happens in the world is beyond our control. Its therefore important that we maintain a level of humility about our ability to create and determine outcomes. Still, the question of how something comes from nothing is a perennial one.
In the modern world, there tends to be a division between those who believe that consciousness is primary and that material manifestation is secondary, and those who believe that the material collaboration between molecules gives rise to conscious experiences of thought, emotion, and creativity. This is a variation on the question do molecules give rise to conscious experience, or does conscious experience give rise to the physical world? Its not a completely esoteric topic in that it influences how much authority and ability we can invoke to affect our lives. My view is that there is truth to both sides of the debate and that we can enhance our healing, transformation, and creativity by cultivating the flexibility to see the widest range of perspectives. Holding the idea in our minds that we are both the underlying silence and that which manifests out of the silence frees us from the rigidity of the ego mind, which craves certainty and security and tends to resist ambiguity. As the Vedic masters taught, the ability to embrace ambiguity is the hallmark of enlightenment.
Tapping into the Universal Flow Participating in the creative response is one of the most fulfilling, nurturing, and joyful experiences because it allows us to be part of the divine dance that gives rise to form, phenomenon, and the experiences of life. Taking time to consciously surrender to silence enables us to intimately share in the process of creation, filling us with joy and enthusiasm. It also allows us to understand and share in the process of translating our intentions into good choices. I recommend that several times per week, you consciously use silence to support your desires. Sit quietly with your eyes closed, settle into silence, place your awareness in your heart, and ask yourself What do I want? What do I need? What would I like to manifest in my life? Then from the silence of possibilities, observe what emerges.
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Youll know that youre tapping into a deeper domain when thoughts or ideas come forth that you had not been consciously aware of before. Pay attention to these surprising impulses of creativity. When you a new or unexpected idea comes into your awareness, ask yourself with your attention in your heart What are the possible benefits of this creative idea manifesting in my life? If your heart and intuitive response tells you that acting on this impulse will serve yourself and and those around you, then ask yourself What can I do to nurture this idea into reality? Simply by fertilizing the nascent expression of our idea with our attention and intention, the creative response is supported and the old forms give rise to the new.
Conscious listening is an important aspect of integrating silence and creativity. If you have the tendency, as many people do, to obsessively fill in silence with noise, consciously attend to stilling the mental turbulence and listening to the creative impulses that are seeking to arise from a deeper domain of your awareness. When you can readily access silence in your own awareness, you will experience creative solutions to both inner and outer questions and challenges in your life, and you will gain the confidence that you can participate with the sacred to manifest your deepest desires.
8.) Is there such a thing as truth? How do we recognize it and how does silence relate to truth? Agreeing upon what is true is not an easy task, as evidenced by the number of conflicts in our personal, social, and political lives. The human mind seems to have an unlimited capacity to disagree. You say tomato, I say tomahto. We can and do argue about almost anything . . . religion, politics, education, money, diet, and so on. If our goal in life is the expansion of peace, harmony, laughter, and love, we must develop the skill set of respecting differences of opinion that is, different concepts of truth while at the same time seeking to find underlying consistent ideas that enable us to make choices that support unifying evolutionary impulses and harmony.
Some would say that truth is that which never changes, and since thoughts, feelings, and the material world are always changing, there is no such thing as absolute truth for a human being. On the other hand, we can acknowledge that the one thing that never changes is that everything is always changing. Therefore, to get closer to the truth, we need to embrace the paradox that truth is both the underlying eternal, constant dimension of life (the absolute) and the relentless transformation that underlies all form and phenomenon (the relative).
Accepting this paradox gives rise to creative possibilities. I am the silence and the
!) Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. manifested vibrational world. I am that which has no beginning, middle, and end and I am that which has a birth, a life, and a death. I am an individual and I am God. How can all of these seemingly contradictory statements be true?
How We Decide Whats True There are several contributing factors that influence what we hold to be truth or false. Much of truth is conditioning, in that we tend to take on the perspectives of expert and caregivers because aligning our truth with theirs makes life easier. As we live our lives, we naturally test these ideas to see if what we have learned is consistent with our experience. If a certain idea about the world consistently seems to be in alignment with how things manifest, we will tend to accept those ideas as true. If an idea or belief contradicts our experience, at some point we may reject that idea as being not useful and therefore not truthful.
Truth is often a social choice in that when we accept a particular point of view, if it enhances our connection to family and community, the benefits of that connection reinforce our acceptance of that reality. This is why people hold and rigorously defend even ideas that we may think are obviously false, toxic. For members of gangs, cults, and fundamentalist organizations, the benefits of being a part of a community outweigh, at least temporarily, those of being connected to something with an underlying substance and sustainability.
One question we can ask ourselves when evaluating an idea is Does it enhance our ability to love more and be happy? We can also ask Does this concept increase the possibilities of us being comfortable in the world or does it tend to restrict us? The more universal the application of an idea, the more likely it is to be resonating in the field of truth. Concepts that are constricting or overly rigid are less likely to be an expression of deeper universal truths.
The Wisdom of Our Body We have a built-in mechanism that supports our ability to authentically identify truth, and that is the sensations in our body. When we have a choice or idea or possibility before us, we can sit quietly, bring our awareness into our heart, and feel our body. With our awareness on the idea and on the sensations that are generated, we simply ask ourselves Does this feel good? Does this enhance our level of comfort? Does it support the quieting of our mind, and the comfort in our body? If the answer to these questions is yes, the ideas arising are more likely to be true than those that create dissonancy, discomfort, conflict, and confusion (distress). Therefore,
!* Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. becoming intimate with silence and awareness of the sensations in our heart can help us live in alignment with truth. This enhances our ability to fulfill our potential in life as both human and sacred beings. Although every truth that we can express is at some level relative (meaning incomplete), choosing ideas and concepts that favor wholeness over fragmentation, timelessness over transitory perspectives, and expansiveness over constriction serves our environment, body, heart, mind, and spirit. Integrating the truth of eternal, non- changing silence with the truth of perpetual transformation enables us to participate in the creative dance of healing and the expansion of wisdom.
9.) How can we use the power of silence to manifest our desires? Power is the ability to translate our intentions and desires into expression. Authentically powerful people dont need to threaten, coerce, or manipulate others. They express an idea or intention or cause that is so compelling that others naturally become enthusiastic about supporting its manifestation.
The Law of Least Effort Nature supports choices that are evolutionary, which means that they effortlessly move from constriction to expansion, from imbalance to balance, and from discord to harmony. If the intended outcome is truly evolutionary, we wont have to use a lot of force or willpower, and our intentions will manifest with a minimal expenditure of energy. In the process of moving from idea to manifestation, happiness and joy arise, encouraging the ongoing support of the intention. There is often greater power at subtler levels of creation. Dynamite is a relatively gross conduit of power that is difficult to direct and is often destructive. In contrast, the power that directs energy and information to our iPad across thousands of miles is an example of an extremely subtle level of creation. True power is subtle. If the expression of power is obvious, such as when dictators and tyrants are in control, it easily provokes resistance and resentment, sabotaging the outcome that one is seeking. If we dont try to manipulate or control people, situations, or events, we are less likely to mobilize resistance and can more readily manifest our deepest intentions.
Harnessing the Power of Intention The ability to tap into the subtlest level of intention grows as we consistently spend time in the stillness and silence of meditation. The more deeply we can embrace our
#+ Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. own silence in meditation, the easier it is to access the intrinsic power of our awareness. Power arising from silence requires a certain trust in nature to orchestrate the forces that arise from and give expression to the manifest world of form and phenomenon. The confidence to allow nature to express its evolutionary magic comes from cultivating comfort in silence. We all want to be powerful people. We all want to readily fulfill our desires and needs. And we all want to manifest our dreams with the least expenditure of energy. We see this principle of efficiency and power throughout nature. She always chooses the path of least resistance to support the evolutionary flow of life. Aligning with nature, we can also be expressions of authentic power that derives from silence, expresses itself efficiently, and brings about joy, happiness, and vitality.
10.) How does silence relate to evolution? The term evolution often invokes strong responses in the world today. The basic premise of the concept of evolution is that nature uses principles to test possible ways to create the world and selects those that enhance survival, wisdom, comfort, beauty, and love. Silence provides the field through which nature experiments, testing the possible forces that give rise to the world.
In the field of biology, Charles Darwin is credited with the development of the theory of evolution, which essentially says that the world is always changing and that biological beings respond to those changes with greater or lesser adaptability. Those tendencies that allow the individual organism to survive and thrive will be favored over those that do not. The world is always changing and living beings are always changing, so it is the dance between the experience and the experiencer that leads to the unfoldment of life. For example, if theres a relatively rapid change in the climate and the average temperature drops quickly within a few years, those creatures that thrive in cooler environments will be more likely to expand their population.
The Evolution of Our Awareness Spiritual traditions also use the term evolution to describe the process of consciousness expansion. To evolve spiritually generally means the integration of greater inner peace, wisdom, harmony, and connection. The more expanded our sense of self, the greater capacity we have to interact harmoniously with the world, and the more likely we are to enjoy our human incarnation. The process of identifying ourselves as beings of conscious awareness (as opposed to skin-encapsulated egos) is an evolutionary process.
To evolve implies that our sense of self is embracing more of the world so that what unites us predominates over what separates us. The value of utilizing silence to evolve
#! Content is copyrighted and any unauthorized use is prohibited by law. is that we become more comfortable in a wider repertoire of circumstances. Ideally, the evolved being is inexorably rooted in the field of silence that embraces our divinity and our humanity. Since whenever we think a thought or say a word, we are in some ways constricting our possibilities, embracing silence in our lives enables us to remain in alignment with the natural evolutionary flow of life. Its not that evolution cannot take place in noise, for we have many examples of how intensely chaotic experiences can be creative opportunities. Land is generated from volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and hurricanes give rise to new geographical formations, and institutions and nations are born from violent revolutionary forces. Still, from the blooming of flowers to the birth of a baby foal to a groundbreaking scientific discovery, silence more often than not underlies the creative evolutionary impulse.
Ive observed that writing is an expression of the evolutionary and creative power of silence. I dont know where the thoughts that flow through my mind come from, but I do know that its the silence cultivated in my meditation that is somehow allowing these concepts to emerge. From the development of a new cake recipe to a breakthrough in treating brain cancer, before an impulse arises, there is silence. The deeper we can connect and align with that silence, the easier and more likely we are to access the creative forces that can heal and transform us. Our Influence over Evolution Evolution will happen whether or not we care. It does appear, however, that we can influence the evolutionary flow of life through our conscious attention and intention. The more comfortably we resonate in silence, the more we can consciously choose which impulses we wish to nurture. Silence therefore directly contributes to our ability to influence the evolutionary process. Without regular access to silence through meditation, we are passive participants in the evolutionary process. With engagement in daily meditation practices, we have some ability to influence the flow of life in a way that supports our happiness, vitality, and ability to love.