Seen whispering in silence
Fall's colors appear
Maybe it's not easy to see the truths in this if you don't sit on your butt a lot. On on a seiza bench, or chair, if necessary. Or even lie down, if absolutely necessary. Seeing silence takes a lot of practice. Seeing anything whispering in silence is even harder. But absolutely doable if you commit to a regular meditation practice.
But just sitting is not the key. You can sit for 20 hours a day only getting up to eat and go to the bathroom, but if your mind is up and wandering around all day, regardless of what the rest of your body is doing, your are wasting your time. You won't see results. Sitting, as i talk about it means sitting with a still body AND a still mind. That's what meditation is.
In fact, the still mind is the more important ingredient. Once you learn how to do it, you can meditate while running along the side of the highway, while riding your bike hours on end. You can meditate while working out at the gym, while eating your meals, especially while eating your meals. Meditation is what you do with your mind, not with your body.
Over time, the meaning of "life's important truths" will change for you. Over time, as you spiral deeper and deeper into Being, instead of existing, your life will redefine itself, old 'truths' will be discarded, and new truths will appear — all without your trying to manage it.
And as you dig deeper and deeper, behind that door between two thoughts that i talk about a lot, the truth of who we are becomes clearer, the truth of the nature and rules of the game called life become clearer, the truth of Being becomes clearer and clearer.
No one can teach these truths to you. No one. If your teacher says he/she can, they are lying. A teacher doesn't teach you anything. All you can hope for is to find a teacher who can clearly point out where your blocks to seeing the truths lie. Can tell you where the wrong paths are, where the dead ends are, where the pitfalls are. A good teacher will give you hints, poke and prod you, encourage you, but in order to find and see the truths, you have to do all the work yourself, all the searching yourself, and remove the obstacles in your path... all by yourself.
So the first question to ask is "what are life's important truths?" And if your teacher or friend kicks you of the room when you offer your first version of an answer, know that you have a lot of sitting still to do. Remember, you're looking for silence — not answers.
Then, someday, you will get a glimpse of that silence, maybe on the other side of the office, hidden between two cubicles. Or in the car in front of you as you work your way to the office in stop-and-go traffic. Or, more usual, on your zafu while sitting in your living room. But that glimpse changes your search.
If you continue to sit, silence shows its face more and more often, staying around for longer periods of time more and more often. But only after you stop trying to greet it every time it appears. If you greet it, it disappears immediately. Just observe. Don't say or think anything. Just watch. Learn to sit together. Silence loves to sit with people who meditate, sitting there staring you in the eye, watching every cell of your body. Learn to sit quietly, simply observing as silence appears, sits with you, and finally eats you alive so that only silence remains sitting there.
When that happens, silence will talk to you. It will whisper life's important truths sweetly into your ear and show you the way down your path. As with your teacher, though, you have to do the work, you have to show up and be willing to walk where silence tells you to walk. Progress is dependent on your perseverance, your courage to continue against all odds. Progress is dependent our your willingness to be silent. Your willingness to BE silence. Your willingness to let the person who sat down at the beginning of your meditation session, and the person who will get up again at the end... disappear.into.complete.silence.
So, if the question at the start is "what are life's important truths?" the question at the end of this is "what does looking for the truth, seeing the truth, have to do with fall's colors?"
There is a direct connection.
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