We have within us, each and every one of us, a certain kind of higher vantage point -- a very special part of us -- that when we are present to it, we enjoy its peace, regardless of what is going on around us or within us. This yet to be realized state of ourselves can be called conscious self-awareness. Through its power, instead of being pulled down into painful identification with each and every passing shadow of life, we discover a life that is in the light of a certain kind of peace that is far above the reach of any fearful shadow.
This next level of meditation cannot be separated from the silence that we have to learn to not just call upon, but enter into, because that order of silence is without cause. It always appears on its own, remaining only as it pleases the purpose that it is given to us for, which is to be aware of everything that enters into it.
Nevertheless, even though it's without cause, by the grace of God we can court this stillness through our own quiet wish to understand its life within our own. And for this reason, our moment-to-moment meditation, particularly as we go into the next level of it, becomes a revelation if we will open ourselves to the truth and what that truth reveals to us as we listen in and through that kind of silence.
If we wish for the presence and peace of true silence, then the great necessity of solitude should be as evident to us as the knowledge that any seedling must be left undisturbed. That is, if it is our wish for that seedling to break out of its dark ground and live in the light, if our heart is set on reclaiming what alone has the power to lift us above everything that now makes us ache, then we must embrace the possibilities of meditation in every possible moment of our life. Not make of it something grand, something that we set out to conquer, but rather wherever and whenever we can... for five seconds, ten seconds at a time... even right now as I'm speaking to you. Bring yourself into that silence, into the awareness of everything that is moving through you, because in that silence we enter into an indwelling eternal self that witnesses everything without being touched by anything other than its touch transforming the whole of our life.
Remember as often as possible what this sleeping, ambitious mind so easily forgets: there is a peace; there is a shelter; there is a timeless space in each and every moment that no darkness can shatter or dispel because that place and space in each moment is the silence that everything enters in through and passes through.
If we can learn to prefer that ever-present company, that level of consciousness to that of all those promises of peace promised to us that will come if we just do as directed, then we will, in this next level of meditation, see our life grow happier and more whole, moment by moment by moment.
