Everything Is Silence

I love silence, but living as a householder, how to maintain it? Would it be considered as a lack of affection and disregarding your duty if you are silent? It's funny, because sometimes our mind is merging into silence, and sometimes it appears to others you're behaving out of character. You start to go walking in the night, you don't sleep until very late, you're quite happy to be alone, you laugh for no reason, sometimes you cry for no reason also, and they're very worried about you. So sometimes it's very good to have your own room. There's a silence which we actively express as sitting alone, taking the phone off, closing the computer, lighting some incense, maybe sit quietly in a certain way, and we say, we're not going to talk, and not even going to think. Some people can decide, I don't think, and they don't think. And there's a silence which is discovered, it's not anybody's doing. Nobody is doing this silence, it's simply the silence of being. It is just there. Whether the mouth is speaking or the body is moving, it makes no difference to that silence, and that is the true silence. Sometimes when we have a physical silence, the silence which we determine to share is an aid to keep off distractions for a moment, so your attention can just settle down into the natural silence. And in that natural silence, all divisions end. There isn't any more I and silence. They are one. Even further than that, sometimes I also is gone. When the I is gone, then also the name of silence is gone. So I say, Silence beyond even the concept of silence. And that silence is here also, here now. It is in the core of our own being. There is no physical distance to that core. It's not a question of measurement in that way. But it seems as though this silence is eclipsed by a fascination for our identity as individuals. Some attention also is coming out of that silence, out of that space of being, and it is monitoring the manifest world and the manifest identity. And so the silence, the inherent silence of being, is overshadowed by that. Silence does not come or go. It's the attention that goes out to touch what is not silence. In fact, it's not correct what I've just said, because everything is silence. Initially, when we begin, somehow, when you are pulled inwardly into the journey within, the journey of self-discovery, the journey home, if you want to call it a journey, I call it a journey from here to here. Don't pay too much attention to the reactions of people around you, because initially it can be not encouraging. They will tell you, you're behaving a bit strange these days. What's happened to you? They may even say, You look depressed. So don't drink these kinds of comments into yourself. In fact, it's sometimes our own secret doubts that manifest in the form of those voices, so that you might hear them. Just continue being present and observing that all that arises on this side of the eyes and on this side of the eyes, everything is like a cloud, everything is moving. Nothing is permanent. You are the witness of it. And don't hold on to any self-image about who you are, because all images are from the past. And then I ask this question, That which sees all else, everything else, can that itself be seen? And you have to find out. Some people feel, I know the answer to this. I say, No, I don't want this type of answer. Look freshly each time. Prove freshly each time. You are even the perceiver of perceiving. That ability is already in you. Who could you be? Can the perceiver, can the seer be seen? Can the perceiver be perceived? It's not a mental question. If this question fascinates, or inspires, or resonates, follow it. Don't get into clever, advital discussions like, Who is to do it? and all of this nonsense. Do it. Let the attention turn around, away from objects. And there are objects on this side, and there are objects here, objects of emotion, and thought, and memory. Also, all of these are in front of that. Can that itself be seen? Find out. I don't want an answer from anybody. Because when you find out, something will change in you. If you let someone else, whoever it might be, cause you to abandon your own inner search for Truth, that is a very sad thing. Because as you come again into your freedom, not only they, but the whole world will benefit from your freedom. So if people are somehow seeming to try to sabotage your attraction for the inner discovery, don't pay so much attention. Follow your heart. Don't say, But I am committed, I have this thing to do, that thing. Follow here. Because Truth is not in conflict with the normal existence.