What "True" Silence Is?

  True silence, what is it? To go back to my previous entry, I believe true silence is truly allowing. Allowing all the energies to come through the body, and not getting into any kind of state of conflict or resistance to what is happening. But this requires a certain skill in letting go, and it takes a long time to hone on it. In fact, it counters the tendency to see things as having solidity because of the habits we feed.

   Let's use a concrete example. Whenever I see something, a lot of thoughts come to my mind related to it. Some of these thoughts are pleasant, some are unpleasant, and when I interact with the object, I start to form an assessment regarding whether I like or dislike it. This then shapes how I interact with it in the future. It shapes my sense of wanting or avoiding, liking or disliking. And more importantly, I start to create a sense of a separate self or I from that.

   But let's reverse this situation and say: what if, instead of creating pockets of resistance or desire around those thoughts, I allowed the thoughts to be what they are, just as they are, like waves in the ocean? What if, instead of seeing those thoughts as relating to solid things, I simply held those thoughts gently in mind, the way we might hold a fragile bird when we are feeding it? Then, instead of believing that I interact with solid "forms" that are permanent, I can see that they are just impermanent waves. The wave of an ocean can be seen, but it cannot be held forever, and when we try to hold it, it becomes elusive.

  This way of seeing is quite different from what we are used to. We are used to seeing the people around us as separate "bodies", meaning that we project a three-dimensional reality onto them. Instead of seeing the mind, we get attached to the forms, and these forms become objects of desire or, conversely, resistance. Not only this, but we even strive to overcome the tendency to solidify things. But this, too, depends on a belief that thoughts are "solid" and "real" when they don't have such kind of reality. That is, even when I have the thought of solidity, this doesn't make it solid. Nothing is actually solid at all, so there is no need to separate our thoughts to the point where they are these aggregates.