Stillness
“Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen -
that stillness becomes radiance.”
-Morgan Freeman
o There is no path.
There is no dogma.
There is only the absolute,
And a universe of appearances
Disguising the way home.
o There has ever been now,
Will ever be now,
Is ever now.
Never has there been any time
Other than now.
o When you are satiated of identity,
Weary of meaningless experiences,
When you would even die to be free,
You will do whatever needs to be done
To spin no more on the web of suffering.
o Are you able to examine your existence
Without any attachment, craving or trepidation?
Dispassionately, objectively, reserving all arrogant judgments,
Seeing forthrightly, clearly, without ulterior motive,
Observing closely the many joys and sorrows,
The likes and dislikes, the loves and hates,
The thoughts, beliefs, opinions, conclusions,
The endless flow of people, places, things, ideas,
The seemingly countless array of passing experiences,
And come to the realization that it was really all your creation,
An inexplicable, intangible, ungraspable, timelessly wondrous journey,
Imagined by a dreamer whose infinitely choiceless nature is prior to all imagination.
o Thought is a reflection of an illusory past
And the projector of imagined futures.
Awareness is the tentative, ungraspable now.
It is boundless, eternal, neither identity nor persona.
It is the mysterious origin, the vapour of insight and intuition.
From its unknowable nature thought springs into being,
But without it, none of this would ever have been.
It is the parent of manifest consciousness,
The source prior to all perception.
o The stillpoint of awareness you are is the keystone to reality.
It is the point from which all manifestation is created,
And the point of oblivion to which all returns.
o As consciousness stabilizes in awareness,
As you clearly realize illusion is not reality,
As you discern duality is the root of all suffering,
As the birthright of beingness resumes its rightful function,
There is nothing left to do but whatever needs doing.
o The mind incessantly projects purpose and meaning,
Fabricating one worry after another in the resulting process.
Perhaps the only real purpose or meaning is to discover there is none,
That living is enough, and no problem need be made of it.
o You have always been a spiritual being.
There has never been one moment when you were not.
All you need do is discern it, and allow the witness to take wing within.
o The human spirit is fond of purity,
But the mind disturbs it
The human mind is fond of tranquillity,
But desires meddle with it.
o Get rid of desires for good,
And the mind will be calm.
Cleanse your mind,
And the spirit will be pure.
o Because the thoughts came out of stillness, they have power, the power to take you back into the same stillness from which they arose. That stillness is also inner peace. And that stillness and peace is the essence of your being. It is the stillness that will save and transform the world.
o When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.
o Is stillness just the absence of noise and content? No, it is intelligence itself — the underlying consciousness out of which every form is born. And how could that be separate from who you are? The form that you think you are came out of that and is being sustained by it.
o Stillness is the only thing in this world that has no form. But then, it is not really a thing, and it is not of this world. But what is wisdom and where is it to be found? Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. Being still, looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you. Let stillness direct your words and actions.
o The stream of thinking has enormous momentum that can easily drag you along with it. Every thought pretends that it matters so much. It wants to draw your attention in completely. Here is a new spiritual practice for you: don’t take your thoughts too seriously.
o What is this basic delusion? Identification with thought. Spiritual awakening is awakening from the dream of thought.
o Most people confuse the Now with what happens in the Now, but that’s not what it is. The Now is deeper than what happens in it. It is the space in which it happens.
o I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am Life. I am the space in which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the Now. I Am.
o You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.
o ….you are fully conscious, yet the mind is not labelling this moment in any way. This state of inner non-resistance opens you to the unconditioned consciousness that is infinitely greater than the human mind….
o The plant that you have in your home–have you ever truly looked at it? Have you allowed that familiar yet mysterious being we call plant to teach you its secrets? Have you noticed how deeply peaceful it is? How it is surrounded by a field of stillness? The moment you become aware of a plant's emanation of stillness and peace, that plant becomes your teacher.
o ….one hawk that appeared motionless, despite the fact that it was maintaining height in a powerful wind. Its wings, suspended at an angle to the stiff winds, appeared not to move. It was a perfect picture of stillness in motion – symbolic of a powerful, yet still, way to be in the face of life’s stiff winds.
To be able to rise above life’s forces, to see life from a broader perspective, to float with the wind while maintaining even a small degree of tranquillity and stillness, would be a wonderful antidote to our stressful existence……
o …..The still point is always present within each of us. It is just a matter of accessing it. … It allows us to see all there is to see. It means rising above things – not in an arrogant or disassociated way, but from a perspective that allows us to see our connection to all things. When we experience that energetic connection to all things, we can more easily comprehend, manage, and create meaning from all that happens to us.
1. The stillness before time - M.J.Holshoser
2. http://www.thestillnessbeforetime.com/
3. Qingjing Jing.
4. Stillness Speaks – Eckhart Tolle.
5. Stillness in motion - Carol Kurtz Walsh
6. http://www.birdscalgary.com/2012/05/09/wednesday-wings-swainsons-hawks/
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingjing_Jing
8. http://www.silkqin.com/02qnpu/27sjts/sj03qjj.htm