Now That You’ve Tuned In, Listen.
What can you discover about life by being quiet for a few minutes each day? Why should you even care to seek a time and place to untangle the habits of your constantly active mind? An easy question that can lead to answers is this: has your mind really revealed anything new? I don’t know, but, if you aren’t Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, or Ralph Waldo Emerson, when you process information daily, do you routinely come to innovative conclusions!? Many minds question how a world that is supposed to be created by a force of good could possibly result in experiences of such turmoil and madness. But, we may have collectively asked the wrong question? Maybe the question we should ask ourselves is: What would our experience of the world be, if we all truly knew what inner freedom, peace and goodness felt like? Or, whose responsibility is it to create a beautiful world for us? And do we have the choice to create in our own unique ways?
One can’t help but marvel these days at the sight of the majestic Himalayan mountain range, which recently became visible in India for the first time in over 30 years. The legendary landscape has become visible again, because human movement, and thus, pollution, has slowed down, due to the current world wide pandemic. The world slowed down and people can once again observe a natural beauty that had been hidden by human pollution for decades. It is now abundantly clear that constant activity has a price. There are many other graphic examples of the costs of humanity not taking time to be still. And it can easily be argued that what happens in the outer world is a mirror of what is going on inwardly. It seems that we have obscured our world from the inside out. But what are the alternatives? What possibilities should we look for, if we choose to slow our minds and tune into our inner spaces?
As I suggested in my last post, and as many great spiritual traditions have spoken of, there is a unique, beautiful and powerful presence that exists internally, for all who sincerely seek it. Some have personalized it and attributed human dimensions to it , but nearly all traditions have agreed that whatever it’s name or definition, it is a force which is greater than our individual selves. Many have searched for it outside of themselves in many varied ways. Some have searched through faith in orthodox churches and others have searched through faith in their own intellectual abilities. Some have come to levels of understanding through a combination of teachings that are spiritual and intellectual. But to find answers through words, ideas and theories is an entirely different thing than tuning in and LISTENING to the messages that come from a loving, pervasive presence, that exists deep within.
This inner listening is the meaning of the art and practice of meditation. For most of us, spirituality has remained an idea or a problem to be solved outside of ourselves. It has not become a living reality except to those few people who are known as saints. But deep listening to the vibrations of the peaceful presence inside of us, can lead us to a place where we are convinced that our deepest reality exists in a source so strong and immutable that we can never be separated from it. This is the value of meditating consistently.
If all the media in the world broadcast reports saying that we do not live in this world at this particular time, it would not change our realization of the fact that we certainly are here. And likewise, if you quiet yourself and listen to the presence and peaceful power within you, you will not need outside sources to guide you or explain anything about your inner world. It will be clear where to find your truest reality. All it takes to be clear is simply being inwardly still for a period of time each day. When, through meditation, you touch an inner awareness of your deeper self, you will begin to see innate order in the world. You will see that you are a part of all that IS; and that you do not need to impose your will on anything. The more you become quiet inside, the more you become certain that: the day is already beautiful; the fruit is already on the trees; the flowers are already blooming; and the Sun and the Moon are firmly planted in space. In this position of quiet awareness you can relax and know that everything is in the hands of spirit and everything, including yourself, exists in it’s right place.
Wishing you love and peace,
Namaste,
