Do you create the space to spend time in your own silence? And what benefit does spending time in stillness have? Can this benefit be described?
Our teacher for this week has been Eckhart Tolle, and we’ll have a look at how he describes what it is we find in silence:
“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing. The same no-thing. They are externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.” – Eckhart Tolle
“True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.” – Eckhart Tolle
To summarize Eckhart’s thoughts: the infinitely creative womb of all existence, creativity, solutions to problems, wisdom… this is what we find when we include – as a part of our human journey – the regular practice of slipping into silence.
But we can get even more practical and explain why this is true by exploring what the opposite is of an inner stillness…
The opposite of inner stillness is inner noisiness, a constant mental chatter, a mind that is overflowing with the recordings of decades of being surrounded by the voices of parents, siblings, peers, media and all of the confusing and contradictory messaging we are bombarded with.
None of this is who we really are. All of this noisiness is the result of all the programming we have received, and the amount of data has become overwhelming. Slipping into silence is stepping outside of all of this programming, and as we get better at this practice we find that we can more clearly see this programming for what it really is.
“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.” – Eckhart Tolle
When you step into silence, you step out of conditioning. What’s more is that while you’re spending time in silence you become more of an observer, and you start to observe the conditioning, you start to see how you yourself are being controlled by past conditioning.
Then… because you have spent so much time in silence practicing being the observer, you begin to observe your old programmes in real time as they happen during your every day life…
This is spaciousness, this is the start of freedom – having the space in which to choose being free from past conditioning.
“When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself.” – Eckhart Tolle
Your guiding mantras for inner exploration:
- Silence is not emptiness; it’s the birthplace of infinite potential.
- The observer within holds the key to breaking free from conditioning.
- With each breath, I release the noise and embrace the space within.
- As I observe my thoughts, I gain the power to choose my response.
Have a beautiful Sunday beautiful humans!
– pierre –
Today’s LIVE meditation is: Finding silence.