Silence

The mind started to tell its stories, but the soul said, ‘I do not have time to listen now.’
Rumi

A moment of awe makes one speechless, present. As one gasps with indrawn breath, a higher state emerges; ‘Silence is the perfect herald of joy,’ says Shakespeare, ‘I should be little happy if I could say how much.’ At the same time, this quality of silence reveals the cogs and gears of one’s inner mechanics. This ‘peace that passes all understanding’ is a measure. The many I’s are noisy, and loudest of all when one is in imagination.

Measured by silence, the many I’s are a fool’s motley, temporary identities supported by rote attitudes. In the light of one’s true Self, they are shown as impostors; thoughts about who one is, what one does, what one should do, what others should do. I’s about sex, money, possessions, health, status. I’s about one’s spiritual advancement, or lack of it. I’s that flatter or demean one. Rising as they compete with each other, the I’s fall when silence emerges.

As one awakens, one finds it more natural to be silent rather than speak, to listen more than talk. The original school technique of a vow of silence was intended to prove the illusory nature of the I’s. Eventually, a student in a school discovers that the chaos of I’s has no power over the silence within. The many I’s fade into silence. Presence adds to the silence within you.

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