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Chiron
Russia
397 Posts |
 Posted - May 17 2010 : 06:34:32 AM
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| To me inner silence means being indifferent to any experience that occurs. Its like no matter what is happening, you are just standing there on the sideline and watching the body and its surroundings. Emotions may be very rich and laughter may be very loud or the pain may be very intense but that state of indifference doesn't change. It seems to be easier to achieve in the quietude of meditation. I guess for a realised being that is their condition 24/7 plus a few accompanying attributes like constant, almost-but-never-overwhelming bliss. |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - May 17 2010 : 4:39:30 PM
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Hi T_I,
I agree with Christi, silence is often perceived to come in glimpses, it "grows" as it's cultivated and comes longer and longer time. However, those glimpses can fluctuate rather much for some ( emc <----  ) I bet that when you get aquainted with silence you will just snap over and realize, cause you're so bursting to pop!!!
The first time I experienced silence it came as a HUGE, COMPACT, THICK WALL of Silence! There was still noice around, but the Silence just OWNED! It ruled! Rolled over me, drowned me, and then it was just... still... Awesome.
Also associating further on the attempts to describe the stuff... I remember Bernie's description which made it really, really clear to me (as he spoke it and I tuned in to it - now it's just concepts in mind)... he said something like
"Consciousness is always evolving! Pure awareness does not have to evolve, it's beyond evolution." (my memory of it)
"All new life evolve your consciousness forward into nothing while creating everything. That forward movement into the new life goes forward - as out - but also, as you go forward in new life you access where that comes from. All new life comes from the profound and deep within, without exception. All new life is inspired by the Authentic I, and the Authentic I is the instrument of the profound, unspeakable awareness."/Bernie Prior from video clips on his page (www.bernieprior.org)
Consciousness is evolving through the dance of form, through experiences. Consciousness is the One I, which is the same I everybody is pointing to when they call themselves "I". Pure awareness is without I, it's absolutely nothing. Just got this quote today describing the same relationship between them, however here pure awareness is called Self:
"Self is a vacuum filled with consciousness" /Swami Lakshmanjoo
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Edited by - emc on May 17 2010 4:50:35 PM |
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Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - May 17 2010 : 11:22:33 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by emc
...
The first time I experienced silence it came as a HUGE, COMPACT, THICK WALL of Silence! There was still noice around, but the Silence just OWNED! It ruled! Rolled over me, drowned me, and then it was just... still... Awesome.
...
Hi emc :)
Thank for your reply. I only hope that I can have the same experience as you. How wonderful!
The only time I've experienced a THICK WALL of silence was the few times when I went to something that I describe as the gateway or doorway to heaven. It is a place that is so quiet and peaceful that you can't hear any sound and your life and all the stress from it is so far away that you can't feel it. It is a feeling like your karma has been momentarily suspended, like life really didn't matter.
It was so unbelievably peaceful and joyful there that I didn't want to leave and come back to my 'life'. It is actually very painful for me to go there because it is so hard to return from it, back to the ups and downs of living in this make-believe world.. But I know where it is and that it exists... But I don't think that it is inner silence because everytime I go there, I meet a figure that looks like Jesus and.. well enough of that..
emc, again thank you for confirming that inner silence does exist. It is very helpful to hear about your experiences, it is reassuring. I will continue striving..
:)
TI
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Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - May 17 2010 : 11:33:58 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Christi
...
From
What is inner silence
All the best
Christi
Hi Christi :)
Thanks for pointing out that lesson. I've read it a few times now.. It's amazing how much I've forgotten, or perhaps, after some meditative experiences or glimpses under my belt, re-reading that lesson now resonates with me at a deeper level of understanding.
Got to go. My face and hands are getting too hot..
:)
TI
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DansInEveryWay
USA
26 Posts |
Posted - Oct 07 2010 : 5:35:23 PM
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this is one of the most useful threads i've seen so far. so many helpful viewpoints... as i am still quite new at this, i don't really have anything to add that wasn't said, so i'll just note this site called awareness watching awareness (i've never tried r maharshi's technique, i personally feel n maharaj's instructions to be more clear, but i came across this recently and it may help you) http://www.albigen.com/uarelove/
experience beats an answer that can potentially turn into a distracting concept ANY DAY. you know, that old kill the buddha saying.
p.s. upon reviewing other threads about inner silence/the witness, i've found that the webpage's name listed above is quite a misnomer. awareness watching awareness is unnecessarily confusing. it could imply an infinite regression of awareness, when it just the simple silence around monkey mind/thoughts. hehheh silly mind tries to make it aaaaallll so complicated. |
Edited by - DansInEveryWay on Oct 07 2010 9:28:48 PM |
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Medea
Netherlands
115 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2011 : 07:44:08 AM
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I want to thank all contributors of this thread for their input. I've been practising AYP for about 9 months now, but the term inner silence left me wondering. When I meditate, there is a lot of mental chatter or the mantra (or both). So where is the silence?
I now understand that I've allready been experiencing it. Very soon after I started DM I experienced some form of 'guidance'. I intuitively knew what choices to make concerning my pratcices, and later on, all other things in life. With time, this form of knowing has taken root, and is now a very solid part of my daily life. I now realise this all comes from inner silence!
Of course, what I decsribed above is not all there's to it. It expands. What's funny is that the only time I experience literal inner silence is right before I do my practices. I always start with some form of prayer to thank God/The universe/the One for shining it's light on my path. Often when I try to find the words to do so, my mind falls totally silent. Then I start my practice and the chatter begins
Thank you so much for helping me understand!
With love,
Medea |
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kevincann
USA
335 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2011 : 12:18:02 AM
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Inner silence is a habit.
The way that I originally learned the habit, was to stop assigning any importance
to spoken or mental words whatsoever.
Words come, words go, and whether you think you originate them, or even if the
wisest person in the world originates them, they are just noise.
(yes, thought noise can be a finger pointing at the moon, that is a specific,
limited context)
It took about one week for that level of silence to form.
Next I noticed that emotions, whether I thought they originated with me, or
whether they appeared to be the massive blasts of emotional noise that
others generate; unless in a very specific context, are just mere noise
to be ignored as well.
(yes, emotional noise can be a finger pointing at the moon, but that is a specific,
limited context)
It took me quite a while for the emotional noise to start quieting down; in fact,
because i'm foolish, I have some purification of that sort to do yet.
Next the visions, whether I thought they originated with me, or whether they appeared
to originate from elsewhere, started to parade past inner eye.
These were hard to deal with. I like structure. Finally, I realized, that while some
of the 'seen' structure may indeed not be pure delusion, if I don't understand the
context perfectly, then the strucuture is just visual noise, that is better to be
ignored.
At the last, it seemed that I was free of noise, at least while meditating. However
after a certain time, my individual brain-ego started to whimper, to feel crushed.
I immediately realized that it would grow much stronger, if I did not learn how to
deal with it.
So I pondered "free will" with a near formless intention to understand, released into
the silence.
I came to understand, that there was in fact no free will, that the One is the only
cook in the kitchen. He does not accept assistants, only appreciative viewers of
his work.
So all the struggling of the ego was seen as pointless. It served no function when it
was being 'good'. It served no function when it was being 'bad'. Some think that it can
become permanently banished. I'm not going to argue this point, that would be pointless.
The silence can become deeply rooted, with or without an ego in the body. The mere act
of not caring whether it exists or not, is the best way to proceed.
In silence, the spiritual intuition blooms.. the formless, undifferentiated consciousness
starts to take hold, and caresses every cell in your body.
Now, it is quite possible to lose the silence, due to karma. I did.
But I did not forget. I am remembering very well. I was 12 when I let the
silence claim me. Now I am letting it reclaim me.
There are many other deeper levels of the silence, beyond these basic
stages. But even these stages are extremely wonderful.
Your mileage may vary. These are my personal observations, not part of any
commonly known practice.
I suspect that most people would do well with deep meditation, using a mantra,
unless their rational mind rejects the program forever.. then a mantra that
means something to them, on both an emotional and intellectual level must be found,
that will also vibrate the body, stimulating nerves and blockages. I used beauty,
in the very beginning.. a long time ago. But that is a full story all on its own.
-Kevin Cann |
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lateinthegame
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2011 : 01:53:46 AM
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What a great thread. I'm glad Medea revived it.
It seems I personally am aware of inner silence as space – as in, the space between breaths - when the In-Breath ends, just before the Out-Breath begins, and then again, when the Out-breath ends, just before the In-breath begins. When listening, not just to the words spoken, but the space between words. Withdrawing attention from the usual objects of attention and paying attention to what is not there - empty space - I can begin to glimpse stillness. Listening to what is not sound, the space from where sound comes: silence is what allows the sound to exist. Eckhart Tolle explains this beautifully, to me.
I’ve found this doesn’t need to be as passive as it might appear. One of my favorite practices is when I’m driving my car. I’ll turn off the radio, and begin a relaxed but continuous ‘noticing’ of my surroundings, without any internal comment. My glance will fall on the shadow of a telephone pole across the road in front of me, then a crack in the pavement, then perhaps my rear-view mirror, then the glare of the sun off the windshield of another car, and then I will notice the color of the leaves on a tree in the median, then a side-view mirror -- just a random shifting from one place to another, allowing my gaze to fall where it may, and just noticing and letting it go, on to whatever comes next, no thought. While this is going on, without any conscious effort on my part, I find myself blending perfectly in with the flow of traffic. I am driving neither too fast nor too slow, and maintain just the right distance from the car ahead. It just happens, no effort. Everything is perfect, with no sense of urgency to arrive at my destination, but somehow I am there before I know it. When driving like this, often I have the sense that I’ve created a 360 degree zone of stillness and awareness around my vehicle, and I am completely at ease in that zone. This is not a difficult thing to do - if you drive you might want to give it a try.
One of the neatest things while doing this practice happened once in rush-hour traffic in a city I don’t get to very often. My heightened awareness had me getting into all the proper lanes, I was proceeding well, when there was the loud blast of the horn of a large truck, not more than a car length behind me. Normally such a thing would catch one unaware and send a jolt through the nervous system, but in this instance, it was simply a sound, something that came from silence, was there for a moment, and then was gone. This was kind of amazing to me. I reflected on this and soon understood it: Driving in the ordinary way, I would have been lost somewhere in my thoughts. The sudden blast of sound would have rocked me back to the present moment with a jolt. But in the mindful state I was in, I was completely in the present moment – that sound was part of the present that I was experiencing, just like everything else I was noticing.
I've held on to that experience as a great lesson to me in how the right way of directing my attention toward stillness can bring my life to a place of harmony and peace.
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davidg
United Kingdom
36 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2011 : 03:09:28 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Medea
I want to thank all contributors of this thread for their input. I've been practising AYP for about 9 months now, but the term inner silence left me wondering. When I meditate, there is a lot of mental chatter or the mantra (or both). So where is the silence?
I now understand that I've allready been experiencing it. Very soon after I started DM I experienced some form of 'guidance'. I intuitively knew what choices to make concerning my pratcices, and later on, all other things in life. With time, this form of knowing has taken root, and is now a very solid part of my daily life. I now realise this all comes from inner silence!
Of course, what I decsribed above is not all there's to it. It expands. What's funny is that the only time I experience literal inner silence is right before I do my practices. I always start with some form of prayer to thank God/The universe/the One for shining it's light on my path. Often when I try to find the words to do so, my mind falls totally silent. Then I start my practice and the chatter begins
Thank you so much for helping me understand!
With love,
Medea
smile. just so i answer your question above, 'where is the silence' even though you have clarity in all of this i would like to expand up on this if you dont mind.
there is a gap between each and every thought, it is that gap that one focuses upon,
treat each an every though like a cloud in the sky, you can see them but cant touch them, so you let them by, does not matter what type of cloud it is, they just mosy-on-by, without your concern for where they came from and where they go.....
thoughts words and deeds are the same, it is the letting go of something that brings peace and stillness to the heart and mind,
it is a process of unlearning the mind
bless
david
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jeff
USA
971 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2011 : 09:47:43 AM
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I also appreciate the revival of this thread. Good information.
Thanks. |
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Tibetan_Ice
Canada
758 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2011 : 01:15:37 AM
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Hi :)
I think I know what inner silence is now.
If I listen intently to a sound, like someone saying one word on a meditation tape (when listening with headphones on), or the sound of one singing bowl as it dies down into nothing, if I keep my attention focused on the location of the source of the sound after it has died away, a little hole appears in that location which is black, silent and very still. It feels kind of alive. The hole of silence doesn't last that long; either another sound is heard and the attention is whisked away, or the hole closes up.
Is that it?
Is it true that you can grow this hole to become bigger?
:)
TI |
Edited by - Tibetan_Ice on Jun 04 2011 01:54:00 AM |
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manigma
India
1065 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2011 : 03:20:37 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Tibetan_Ice
Is it true that you can grow this hole to become bigger?
LOL. All holes are meant to become bigger.
Somehow reminded me of these great Sound Meditatations by Lord Shiva:
- Imagine the sanskrit letters in these honey-filled foci of awareness, first as letters, then more subtly as sounds, then as most subtle feeling. Then, leaving them aside, be free!
- Intone a sound audibly, then less and less audibly as feeling deepens into this silent harmony.
- Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall, or by putting the fingers in the ears, hear the sound of sounds.
- Intone a sound, as Aum, slowly. As sound enters soundfulness, so do you!
- In the beginning and gradual refinement of the sound of any letter, awake!
- While listening to stringed instruments, hear their composite central sound; thus omnipresence.
- Center on the sound "AUM" without any "A" or "M".
The Book of Secrets
http://www.livingworkshop.net/ob-bo...ec-comp.html
The last one especially can give goosebumps.
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yanalroot
16 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2011 : 06:36:31 AM
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| dear friends plz allow me to add idea, i read about how the Cosmo was created. ppl said it was created from " Big Bang" > the universe is expanding from that date until now. if we reverse the process of expanding we will come back to the ZERO point. what was before that zero. many ppl said, there was intent or idea before triggering the process of creation. some ppl said there was nothing "JUST NOTHING" . I think inner silence is simply the tow options ( the intent or the mind of creation or the nothing at the same time). inner silence = the root of nothing or the absence of things |
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kannada
Australia
29 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2011 : 08:41:14 AM
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Inner silence is "no thought". It is found in the space between thoughts and in that space between thoughts there is neither 'inner' or 'outer'...
Regards |
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