Friday, October 29, 2010

Noble Silence


Noble Silence
Listening takes place not just through the ears, but with all the senses. Sometimes the best way to prepare ourselves to hear in a new and better way is to be still and silent. When we quiet our motor minds — and our motor mouths — we find that we are better able to open our hearts. The ancient practice of Noble Silence helps us begin the process of hearing in a new way; this is a timeless and wise practice that helps us be more sensitive and perceptive.
Noble Silence traditionally begins with a vow to keep silent for a specific period of time. It can be an hour, a day, a week, or a month. There are practitioners who have kept Noble Silence for years. There is even a practice of lifetime silence in India called 'maun.' The famous master Meher Baba was a mauni baba, a silent holy man. He used a small blackboard to spell out his succinct messages, like 'Don't worry, be happy,' long before the reggae song was written.

If you want to try a period of Noble Silence, remember that it is a rest for all of the senses. Turn off the radio, the phone, the television. Enjoy a fast from the news. Turn off the thoughts in your head. Stay quiet. Take refuge in the inner calm and peace of the quiet mind. Don't write, don't read, don't surf the Net. Keep still. Listen to the sounds around you. What do you hear? What do you see? Open your eyes, open your ears, open your heart. Think of the ancient Christian exercise. Be still. Listen to the inner voice, and know God. This is how we learn to cultivate higher levels of hearing, perception, and vision.

'For someone deeply trapped in a prison of thought, how good it can feel to meet a mind that hears, a heart that reassures. It's as if a listening mind is, in and of itself, an invitation to another mind to listen too. How much it can mean when we accept the invitation and hear the world anew.'

From How Can I Help by Ram Dass and Paul Gorman.

Monday, October 18, 2010

"The Shining" -- Badly Drawn Boy


Faith pours from your walls
Drowning your calls
I've tried to hear
You're not near

Remembering when
I saw your face
Shining my way
Pure timing

Now I've fallen in deep
Slow silent sleep
It's killing me
I'm dying

To put a little bit of sunshine in your life

Soleil
All over you
Warm sun
Pours over me
Soleil
All over you
Warm sun

Now this slick fallen rift
Came like a gift
Your body moves
Ever nearer

And you will dry this tear
Now that we're here
And grieve for me
Not history

But now I'm dry of thoughts
Wait for the rain
Then it's replaced
Sun setting

And suddenly we're in love with everything

Soleil
All over you
Warm sun
Pours over me
Soleil
All over you
Warm sun

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

On Love

Thich Naht Hanh:

We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love.

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When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.

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Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.
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Zora Neale Hurston:

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.