Silent Being (January 6th) …
January 06 – Silent Being: Sit silently with a friend for 30 minutes. Gaze at him/her regularly, Seeing his/her True Self when you do so. If no friend is handy, find someone on a public bench and simply sit next to them for that amount of time … Note that this is not a time to read or listen to music. Even if the other person is doing so, your task is simply to be Present in his or her Presence. It is a powerful experience to simply BE with another human without the small talk and idle activity that normally keeps us from Appreciating a true sharing of Space.
In almost all of our encounters with others, we sleep almost all of the time.
And I don’t mean the kind of sleep where your eyes are closed and you snore (though that sometimes happens as well). I mean the kind where you are “speaking with them” only to make your own point clear, or where you are “speaking with them” while actually desiring them, or where you are “listening politely” while actually annoyed by them, or where you are “listening politely” while actually planning what you will say next … in reality, sleeping.
And yet it is possible to actually BE with another while sitting next to them – to actually experience their true essence, to truly Hear what they are saying (with body language more than word), to honor them as fellow travelers on the road of Life.
And that was the primary goal behind today’s task – to be able to sit silently with another being while consciously appreciating them; something that would then be a springboard to deepening our connections with others in all of our subsequent “everyday” activities. .
I had tried this activity a few times times before, the last time being in Glastonbury (England) with a girlfriend. It was a very soothing experience, and inspired me to recall the quote, “Love is not gazing with passion at the other, but rather looking calmly outward in the same direction.”
And yet, while this encounter was very nice for both of us, I realized after the fact that we weren’t really connected – that neither one of us was actually aware of the other while we were sitting there side by side. No, to come into a true awareness of the essence of others – to truly actively respect them, it was necessary to go deeper.
First, of course, it required quiet. More often than not, our speech actually gets in the way of deeply recognizing the person with whom we are speaking. So step one was maintaining silence.
I originally thought that the extended lack of talking would be enough, and yet I found something still missing from the encounter. It seemed that before I could really appreciate the essence of the other, I had to first pause and consciously become aware of time & space.
And it was then that I was ready to “see” the other without looking at her; to feel her energetic, “spiritual” purity without looking at her …
And in that one extended moment, I knew without a doubt that we were essentially one being. I could feel it – and because I had chosen to be consciously aware of that fact, it was so.
Then I transposed this awareness on other things in my surroundings – a tree … a stone … even the land itself … even the air around me.
This was more than simply being aware of my own time & space; more than simply being aware of my inner True Self therein. This was coupling that innate Knowledge with the awareness of literally being One with everything around me.
For the first time in my life, I was truly Here&Now –
For the first time in my life, I was Home.
Se You when I see you …
… and until then, Be Now!
Scaughdt
;