Truth in Stillness

To associate with only the physical body, with the materialistic ideas of life, the false pleasures, with form itself, is to fulfill the egoic mind and what it wants. To disassociate from these things, to come back to know the Source, to still recognize one’s sense of self but not solitarily, to see that one is consciousness itself; the observer; the essence; the stillness; the force behind breath, and not the body that breathes, is to begin to reach what some call “enlightenment” or what some call “truth.” It is both things all at once because these are only words to give an associated name.

A person is born into this world thinking they must define themselves based on what they already know. They are given a name. They come to be aware that they have a body that is supposed to develop based on a standard. They are awarded for good behavior, reprimanded for bad. They are told “don’t be this” and “believe this.” Without realizing it, they are molded by the systems around them, and one day, they start questioning who they are. They do not know, and, how could they?

They never got the chance to know, until they come across a phrase that tells them that underneath all of the illusions, the layers, and labels, they are “nothing.” They might ponder this, maybe even liken the idea of this.

So, they are determined to understand what “nothing” could mean and why it sounds so appealing. This is part of “enlightenment.”

Truly and undoubtedly, this is the deepest knowledge one must quiet the egoic mind to see. Once the awareness is present, there is no longer association with one’s name, face, body, social class, school major, friend group, trauma, depression, and the biggest one of all, thought. At one’s core, they are not empty, but they are this great “nothing,” belonging to everything. There is no longer fear of death or concepts created to be feared because like time and other man-made concepts, one comes to know they do not exist. They are part of the illusion.

Your soul has a special mission. Your soul is supremely conscious of it.

"Maya, illusion or forgetfulness, makes you feel that you are finite, weak and helpless. This is not true. You are not the body. You are not the senses. You are not the mind. These are all limited. You are the soul, which is unlimited. Your soul is infinitely powerful. Your soul defies all time and space."

-Sri Chimnoy

The ego can be silenced, proving it is not real. It is only ever noise. The stillness speaks before the voice of the ego can even exist, creating a space it can fill with its noise, and then, it can be recognized, realized, and reigned in.

It all comes from stillness.

Like a tree, at our center, we are still. We can channel this stillness physically. We dance in the wind of life; our branches moving to the sensations and with the flow. Either way we are whole.

"Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. Being still, looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you. Let stillness direct your words and actions."

-Eckhart Tolle, “Stillness Speaks”

With the illusionary life’s demands to speak over the stillness, the ego forms. And thank goodness for the ego or else we would not know life without it. We would not know the truth.

There is only ever consciousness and its expressions. The ego is a result of form trying to identify with the false sense of self. Our authentic self is divine consciousness experiencing itself in this form, in this density. There is no separation at the core. Consciousness is perception. It is not our ego which brings about perceiving. The ego is perceived by consciousness.

The ego is our sleeping self, the one which says ‘yes’ to chaos and ‘no’ to stillness. It seeks for something to cling to, to identify with, in the external and conceptual world of searching for what cannot be found anywhere but within. Waking up from the ego brings our souls the freedom it possess all along.

Presence is knowing that we do not need to be controlling or always know what is going to happen. We must simply observe and let it be. Trust that the flow is and that it is as it should be. There is only letting the ‘moment’ come to be present with it. A grounded state in the now.

Enlightenment does not separate you from living. It teaches you what it really is, waking you up to life. “Life” is not something to define or something to fear because it will “end.” Life is an adventure, a lesson we are here to learn from as the human bodies we are given. It is not a mystery to solve, but a gift, as we find the stillness and listen to the truth it has always been whispering in our ears.