Silence

What ever happened to the lost art of silence? We are so caught up in the world! Every second of every day almost there is noise or stimulation. But then where does God come in? I think God penetrates our innermost being in the silence, in the dark places, where we least expect it. But we are so bombarded by images, sounds, media, I'm afraid it has been lost.

I experienced true silence on South Sister about half way up, before you get out on the ridge where the wind is blowing, we stopped for a break and someone remarked on how quiet it was and we stopped! We were silent for like 3 minutes, and it was hard at the beginning, the awkwardness of silence was hard to overcome. But after a minute there was an overwhelming calm, a pervading peace and I could feel God. There was no cars, no factories, no music, no television, no talking. I could barely hear my heartbeat and that was it, and it was then that I experienced God. I can't even get this silence on hikes around the area. You can still here the city and it's noise and turmoil. I definitely can't do it at home, why would I be silent when I have an Ipod full of music? and a T.V. with 500 channels? And beer! Beer can drown out the silence really well.

Why do I want to keep the silence down? I think I am scared of silence, because it makes me vulnerable, it forces me to reflect on myself. Instead of just looking at other people and they're crap, I have to look at my own. That is when God steps in, that is when I am experienced.

But that is just me.

The flute of intererior time is played whether we hear it or not.

What we mean by “love” is its sound coming in.

When love hits the farthest edge of excess, it reaches wisdom.

And the fragrance of that knowledge!

It penetrates our thick bodies,

It goes through walls.

Its network of notes has a structure as if a million suns were arranged inside.

This tune has truth in it.

Where else have you heard a sound like this?

A sweet poem by Kabir

Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.

My shoulder is against yours.

You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine

rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:

not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding

around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but

vegetables,

When you really look for me, you will see me

instantly —

you will find me in the tiniest house of time.

Kabir Says: Student, tell me, what is God?

He is the breath inside the breath.

-Kabir

Some thoughts on the triviality of the modern american existence

Does all life come down so base?

Are we so starry-eyed as to not see the horror in front of us?

Are our guts so fat so that we can not see our own two feet?

Our feet, that which moves us along on a path

A path, please choose, please

Any will suffice, just let us go somewhere

Somewhere, anywhere, let us move along past this chapter

The world is in front of us with wide arms

Waiting to embrace us

But maybe all life is just this perverted love?

Just the next big thing?

Just these trivialities?

Please, don't let it be so

Haven't been able to post in a while, I got locked out of my account and just got back on! But here is some of the things I have been writing.

Words

My brain is too scattered

My mind is too wild

My thoughts have been spread across the sky like stars

and there isn’t a black hole strong enough too suck them in

There is no simile to describe my joy

There isn’t a metaphor that can show the sorrow I hold

words are too young

Then to put your soul in a gallery

On display, printed, on paper

to be judged, condemned, praised, celebrated

Who are we?

tiny humans

insignificant specks

no words can hold us

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. 

The name that can be named is not the eternal name. 

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. 

The named is the mother of ten thousand things. 

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. 

Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. 

These two spring from the same source but differ in name; 

This appears as darkness. 

Darkness within darkness. 

The gate to all mystery.

Something else I wrote recently, it is where I got the name for my blog. Just an analogy that popped into my head and then i expanded on it.

As Christians we constantly live in the night, in a dark world. God is like the sun, burning so bright, so glorious. If the sun were to enter our orbit, if we were to see God we would burn alive, we would be struck dead by his pure glory. But as Christians we are like moons, we can create no light of our own. We can only hope to reflect God's glory and light into the dark world, into the night. We can only hope to be as full as possible a moon can be, so as to greater shine into the darkness. But the sun will come again, and morning will dawn, and we will all be able to see him, the Son.