NEWSLETTER : COLIN'S SOUL FOOD KITCHEN JUNE 29

SILENCE IS THE SOUL’S BREAK FOR FREEDOM

ABSURDITY: Basically, at the very bottom of life, which seduces us all there is only absurdity and more absurdity. And maybe that is what gives us our joy for living, because the only thing that can defeat absurdity is lucidity. The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it..

SILENT LUCIDITY: Just remaining quiet, being attentive, requires a lot of courage and effort. Yet, it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover action without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.

Music in the soul is heard by the Universe. At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. I have just three things to teach- simplicity, patience, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires. He who is content is rich.

Be content with what you have. Rejoice in the way things are. When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you. He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough. Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them- that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

In the final analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his life and ‘finding himself.’ If he persists in shifting responsibility to someone else, he fails to find the meaning of his own existence. My teacher once told me that sitting in meditation and embracing silence is an act of revolution against a soulless society. Colin Mac Rae

In meditation, it is possible to dive

Deeper and deeper into the mind

To a place where there is no disturbance

And there is absolute solitude.

It is at this point in the profound stillness

That the sound of the mind can be heard.

Silence is like a cradle holding our endeavors and our will; a silent spaciousness sustains us in our work and at the same time connects us to larger worlds that in the busyness of our daily struggles to achieve, we have not yet investigated. Silence is the soul’s break for freedom!

It is like the sea breaking on a far-off reef,

And it lulls the being into extreme calm.

Like the sea, it is primordial

And here is no storm.

Only the silken waves soughing.

When I listen to the sound of this sea,

I sense that I am a voyager

And this sound is a wind in the sails of a ship.

But this sound is not of this world:

For other sounds are heard distinctly

And cause this sound to die-

Though it returns with the silence.

All journeys have a secret destination of which the traveler is unaware. Solitude is the place of purification.

The Wise Person believes profoundly in silence- the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit. The person who preserves her selfhood, is ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence; not a leaf, as it were, not a ripple upon the surface of the shining pool. Silence is the ideal attitude and conduct of life. Silence is the cornerstone of character. Silence is the soul’s break for freedom.

Sometimes I think of it as a transcendent sound-

Which speaks of unknown powers,

Of cosmic storms and sun winds

Sighing in the brain.

This is no earthly voyage

And I see visions of ships that

Sail on no earthly sea.

Our ships sail on upon a silent sea;

No wind, there is no sound-

But we move on. A.E. Falconer

THE SOUND OF SILENCE : The beauty of the Earth is a bell of mindfulness. If you can't see it, you must ask why. Maybe something is blocking the way. Or maybe you’re so busy looking for something you can’t hear the call of the Earth. Mother Earth has much to offer you: the rays of sunshine, the singing birds, clear streams , the cherry blossoms and the four seasons. Every flower is a smile. The fruit in your hand is a gift from Earth. If you don’t feel grateful, it’s because you are not there for the Earth, for the gift of life.

‘To understand the deep content of the mind, the deep layers of the ‘me’, the self, with all its fears, anxieties, troubles and agonies, you can observe it only when the superficial mind is extremely quiet. Not making the mind quiet, but to see the truth of it. When you see the truth of it, it happens. When you look with the quality of mind that is very quiet, there is no verbalization, no comparison, no justification, or condemnation- just watching. ‘ J. Krishnamurti

‘And to watch the mind, the daily activity of the mind must completely end. If you see the truth that to understand anything, the mind must be completely still- especially when you are observing yourself, your fears, loneliness, despair, your demand for pleasure and all the rest of it-to observe that completely, at great depth, the superficial mind must be completely still.’ J. Krishnamurti

Yesterday is only a dream

And tomorrow but a vision

But today well-lived

In the present moment

Makes all of our yesterdays

Full of beautiful memories

And all our tomorrows

Visions of hope me

I have learned that to handle difficult moments when I am lost in the wilderness and overwhelmed by anger, fear and despair, I come back to my breathing and dwell only on breathing, from within. In this way I can be my best: I can be still and give rise to a clear mind. Only then deep awakening and compassion can manifest, right in my heart. Breathing in: Thank-you for the gift of life- Breathing out- compassion for all beings

Silence is a great source of strength

To the mind that is still

The whole universe surrenders Zhuang Zhou

One person’s peaceful presence is the source of an inner strength and calm, and people feel that presence and respond to it.

‘To the wise person who truly understands the nature of reality, there is no place for complacency or arrogance. There is no time for that! The wise person lives with utmost humility and gratitude, and in constant awe and wonder at the miracle of existence. Life is full of miracles. That is why the Tao can’t be described. All life is a mystery. Embrace the mystery of life. Be silent and look around and pay attention and you will begin to experience the utmost gratitude and humility for the gift of life and live in a sense of awe and wonder.’ Lao Tzu

The birds have vanished into the sky

And now the last clouds drain away

We sit together, the mountain and me

Until only the mountain remains. Li-Po

SILENT LUCIDITY: Born from a place of silence and wisdom, even when the world churns up a storm of emotions, the silent witness sits calmly in the eyes of the storm unharmed, luminous, and all-knowing. You have found your true essence: basic goodness or buddha nature. If you wish to clear away the clouds of thoughts, simply keep your mind in the present. The clouds of thoughts linger only in the past and the future. Bring your mind to the present moment and your thoughts will rest.

We all have to support and love one another during these chaotic storms in our lives! There is still a lot of good in this world. But we have to look for it. We’re alive!

The most powerful prayer, one well nigh omnipotent, and the worthiest work of all Is the outcome of a quiet mind. The quieter it is, the more powerful The work, the worthier, the deeper, The more telling and more perfect the prayer is. To the quiet mind, all things are possible. What is a quiet mind? A quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, nothing worries, free from ties and from all self-seeking. Meister Eckhart

OCEANS

I have a feeling that my boat

Has struck down there in the depths,

Against a great thing.

And nothing

Happens! Nothing…. Silence…. Waves.

-Nothing happens? Or has everything happened?

And we are standing quietly

In the new Life? J.R. Jimenez.

We find that we adrift on an ocean of suffering. But if you turn around, you can still see the land. Everyone in the boat may be panicking but can be kept from despair by one person’s peaceful presence, who slowly and methodically rows the boat towards the people clinging desperately to what is left of their shipwreck. He then gets everyone on the boat to one side, so that he is able to pull them into the boat and then back to land to safety.

Ships that pass in the night

And speak to each other in passing-

Only a signal shown and a distant

Voice in the darkness;

So on the Ocean of Life we pass

And speak to one another;

Only a look and a voice;

Then darkness again

And silence. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“What is the appropriate behavior for a man or woman in the midst of this world where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood? The Buddha

‘When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of it, I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively no distraction. My whole life becomes a prayer. My whole silence is full of prayer. The world of silence in which I am Immersed, contributes to my prayer.’ Thomas Merton

YOUR ORIGINAL MIND: When you are so busy that you feel perpetually chased, when worrying thoughts circle your head, when the future seems dark and uncertain, when you are hurt by something someone said, slow down, even if only for a moment. Bring all of your awareness into the present and take a deep breath. What do you hear? What does your body feel like? What does the sky look like?

Only when we slow down can we finally see clearly our relationships, our thoughts, our pain. As we slow down, we are no longer entangled in them. We can step out and see them for what they are. The faces of our family and friends, the scenery that we pass by every day but fail to notice, our friends’ stories that we fail to pay attention to- in the stillness of the pause, the entirety of our being is revealed. Wisdom is not something that we have to strive for to acquire. Rather, it arises naturally as we slow down and notice what is already there.

As we notice more and more in the present moment, we come to a deeper realization that a silent observer is within us. In this primordial stillness, the silent observer witnesses everything inside and outside. Befriend the silent observer. Find out where it is, and what shape it has assumed. Do not try to imagine it as something you already know. Let all your thoughts and images merge back into silence and just sense the observer already there in silence. If you see the face of the silent observer, then you have found your original mind. Who is the silent observer? It is you.

Peace of mind is to be found both in silence and in our own hearts. When we live all the time in our own minds, we set up an impediment to our connection with all of life and to genuine connection with others.

Almost every wisdom tradition believes in the power of silence and that silence is usually found in nature. That seems to be the ideal place for the heart to be at rest. This is perfectly natural, since we, like all creatures and life on this earth come from the same source. However, it appears that humankind has separated itself from nature as well as the healing power of silence. We have separated ourselves to such an extent that we are destroying the very planet that is our home.

Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present and unless you look for it in the present, you will never find it. We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real self. We do not exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others.