One day, as if I had lived alone for many years in the deep desert,
I was taken by a stunning stillness, and without resistance I
disappeared into Silence. It was more than an epiphany,
more than grace, more than mystical union: It was my soul's
homecoming, my heart's overflowing love, and my mind's
eternal peace.
In Silence, I felt my core identity, my essential nature, as a
unity-in-love with all creation. I experienced freedom, clarity,
and joy as my true Self. I realized I was of time and eternity
in equal measure. I was composed of physical matter and
spiritual energy in equal measure...
This Self, this Silence, belongs to all of us - it is who we are;
it is what we are. If we are to experience and embody authentic
peace and love, if we are going to bring true healing to our wildly
violent and endangered world, we are going to have to learn to
live within this essence...
Please remember the Silence beyond words, the Silence of mystery,
the Silence of the soul, of the heart, the Silence in which lovers
give themselves to a greater loving, a selfless loving, the Silence
which knows only this moment..., this incredible instant of pure
life when time suddenly stops, when we breathe the high-altitude
air we call love. I want to remind you of these ways of Silence
knowing and being, which you know, which you are.
Silence is within our very genes. It winds around and binds
together the strands of our DNA. It is the essence of who we are.
It is within our breath. It is there like music between our thoughts.
It is the light within our eyes. It is the high arc of birds we long
to follow home to their secret nests. It is in the rhythm of waves,
the innocence of children, the deep feelings within the heart that
have no cause, when the heart is pierced without warning and
your eyes fill with tears. It is within the kindness of one person to
another. It is within the stillness of nights, and peace of early
mornings.
In Silence, we open to life and life opens to us, life reaches
towards us and touches us in the center of our heart. Our heart
breaks open and another heart is revealed. This is the true heart,
the one that knows how to meet life with open arms. Silence
knows that thoughts *about* life are not life itself. If we touch
life through Silence, life touches us back, intimately... And
then the mystery of life, the wonder of life, the beauty of life,
the sanctity of life, become our life. Everything but wonderment
falls away...
Knowing Silence is knowing your Self. Knowing your Self is
freedom. In Silence, you are the very embodiment of joy, the
very expression of love. Enter your Self fully and deeply. You
will find this Silence, and in Silence you will know
the embodiment of Silence [that] you are...