{"id":6192,"date":"2014-05-24T07:00:26","date_gmt":"2014-05-24T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manyvoices.soundstrue.com\/manyvoices\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2020-04-07T18:48:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T18:48:53","slug":"going-deep-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/blog\/going-deep-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Deep into Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last three years, I have immersed myself in the teachings of Adyashanti<\/a>.  I recorded and edited his most recent audio program and book, Resurrecting Jesus<\/i><\/a>; I\u2019ve attended several weekend intensives in the Boulder area, and I\u2019ve listened to countless satsang recordings and online broadcasts. But until a few weeks ago, I had never attended a silent retreat\u2014with Adya or any other teacher.<\/p>\n

Now, I can be a loud guy\u2014just ask my family.  If things around me (or inside me) are noisy, I tend to respond with more noise. Still, on retreat, despite my fears, I found it easy to slip into silence.  And the more I let go into the daily pattern of silent sitting\u2014six sitting periods of 30 to 40 minutes each, the first at 7:30 in the morning and the last at 9:30 at night\u2014the more I felt the noise inside me abate.<\/p>\n

The retreat was held in North Carolina, and most days the skies were solid gray, with a light rain falling.  Though the oaks had not yet unfurled their leaves, the redbud tree in the courtyard of the dining hall was in full bloom, and when the rain abated, its branches hummed with fat, fuzzy bees.  At each meal, eating in silence, I positioned myself so I could see that redbud tree through the banks of windows.<\/p>\n

I loved the morning dharma talks and evening satsangs, when retreat participants could bring their questions to the microphone and dialogue with Adya.  I loved to sit in silence, sensing that vast space inside as it slowly emerged into consciousness.  (Of course, it had been there all along, but thoroughly hidden by the noise of activity, both inner and outer.) And I loved that tree.<\/p>\n

One evening, answering a question, Adya said, \u201cAllow the world to find itself in you.\u201d For some reason I couldn\u2019t quite pinpoint, these words resonated deeply for me.  There were times, rising from meditation and walking into the soft light of afternoon, when it did feel that the trees in bloom and the loamy smell of the earth and even the birdsong all arose and subsided within me\u2014which is to say, within that open, aware spaciousness we share. As the days flowed by and the silence inside grew more accessible, I noticed something.  From that silence, words began to emerge, images rise slowly to the surface.  The world found itself in me, and I found this poem.<\/p>\n

The Redbud Tree<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fat bees browse
\nthe spindled branches of the redbud tree,
\ntheir humming heavy as fruit.
\nThey dwarf the purple blossoms.<\/p>\n

Late afternoon, and when
\nthe clouds part, the light
\npours thick as honey over the blossoms,
\nthe bees, the mossy branches.<\/p>\n

Everything is heavy
\nand everything barely here.<\/p>\n

Long before my birth, bees swarmed
\nthe flowered tree,
\nbees already ancient
\nand born again each spring,
\nrising among the blooms.<\/p>\n

And someone\u2014dust now\u2014stood
\nwhere I stand, and stared
\nat their slow dance
\namong the delicate
\npetals the wind scatters.<\/p>\n

\"mitchellblogphotomay\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last three years, I have immersed myself in the teachings of Adyashanti.  I recorded and edited his most recent audio program and book, Resurrecting Jesus; I\u2019ve attended several weekend intensives in the Boulder area, and I\u2019ve listened to countless satsang recordings and online broadcasts. But until a few weeks ago, I had never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":5485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,386],"tags":[],"contributor":[658],"class_list":["post-6192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mindfulness","category-spirituality","contributor-sounds-true"],"yoast_head":"\nGoing Deep Silence | Sounds True<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about going deep silence with insights from Sounds True teachers. 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