Have you noticed that your mind is always active, except when you’re deeply asleep and not dreaming? You’re either talking to other people, talking to yourself, or reacting to your life-movie. You’re focused on your activities, interactions, and all the things you read and hear throughout the day.
If there’s a moment of silence, you probably feel the pressure of doing something about it. If it happens during a conversation, you’re compelled to break it to avoid any awkwardness. If it happens when you’re on your own, you follow the impulse to check your phone, go online, read, watch something, and so on.
The ego-mind needs to be engaged or entertained to make itself felt. Without this constant movement, it simply disappears. And if you’re completely identified with it, as most people are, then you feel like you’re not quite alive or that something is missing without its usual fluctuations, so you find something to keep your mind busy.
Of course, you need the mind to engage in the world. But I’m talking about something more than using your mind as a tool to perceive and participate in your life-movie. I’m referring to the discomfort inherent to the human condition that the ego-mind is constantly hiding with all sorts of distractions. Why? Because this subtle pain prompts you to seek liberation from the very ego that causes it. But not before you try many external things to avoid it.
Suppose you’re going camping and forget to pack any socks. You wear the only pair you have day in and day out, until they get so dirty and crusty they could stand on their own. At first they may be uncomfortable, but you get used to the discomfort until it doesn’t bother you anymore. Only when you get home and put on a freshly laundered pair of socks you notice a big difference.
Silence Is the Language of the Self: Your True Nature
This may be a silly example, but the contrast between these two experiences helps you recognize how easy it is to get used to something unpleasant if it’s familiar. It’s the same with your ego-mind and its constant activity and fluctuations, so you can only notice the difference if you’re able to quiet it down (see The Liberating Practice of Moving Into Stillness and Why You Need Super-Conscious States To Be Truly Free).
The most relaxing and pleasant time of the day is when you’re deeply asleep, which is a state similar to meditation. It’s when the ego-mind disappears from your consciousness and you lose the identification with your physical body. Although you only access it briefly through the night, as your states alternate between light sleep, dreaming, and deep sleep, it is vital for your well-being.
Do you know anyone who doesn’t enjoy sleeping? Even if you have trouble falling or staying asleep because you can’t let go of your ordinary ego consciousness, you want to sleep because you enjoy sleeping. Deep sleep is not only needed for physical rest and rejuvenation; it also provides a crucial pause from the ego-mind that aligns you to your true Self.
Silence is your divine essence. It’s the background of all existence and it’s also the language of the Self (God within you). Your mind may be busy thinking and processing things, but Awareness is something that dawns on you; it’s silent and immediate. In fact, it precedes all cognitive activity, but you use words to explain or elaborate on it because the ego-mind wants to “own” the experience.
If you refuse to follow the ego-mind when you become aware of something, the power of Silence allows you to dis-identify with it, thus creating a space for inner peace and freedom. Clearly, the ego is going to produce more thoughts to disturb it, but you can develop the discipline to remain quiet, simply being present and aware.
It requires an effort, but if you’re persistent you leave mental imprints that make it easier to keep doing it, as you build an inward path that’s enjoyable to go back to, just like when you’re falling asleep. This is living in meditation, as a humble vehicle of Divine Consciousness. So contact me today to remove what gets in the way of your emotional and spiritual freedom, and learn to live a soul-guided life!
© 2021 Yol Swan. All rights reserved.
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