Be Aware of the Silence | A Guided Meditation by Eckhart Tolle

Meditation is about accessing stillness within you, which is a dimension of consciousness. Above thinking, aware, stillness. There is also a stillness below thinking. People become still when they get tired. The most important thing in a person's life is to find that dimension. Perhaps first it comes in glimpses, sometimes arises naturally, perhaps when you're out in nature or relating to an animal. Or it can be there as the part of your meditation practice while you meditate. All right here now, by paying attention to the silent spaces between words. Paying attention, meaning noticing the silent spaces being between the words. That's the meditation. Not noticing, just for one second, oh, there's a side spirit. And then go off into thinking. But noticing the silent spaces while they are there. For example, between now and now. And of course, you can't notice the silent spaces and think at the same time to notice the silent space. You become still inside. Because only the stillness in you can become aware of it. So noticing those spaces between worlds, for here is an important part of, or the most important part of our life meditation. And as you notice, you become still inside. And there is the dimension that transcends the person so fast. You access it here, as I said, perhaps it arises naturally. And if you access it here or as part of your meditation practice, it's more likely to arise also naturally in other situations in daily life. And when it does arise, you notice it again. A moment of alert attention. When you look at the sky and you go without having any interpretation or words arising in your mind about the sky. You just go. There's an alertness in which. An alert space in which the sense perception happens of the sky. And what is the sky? Nothing, really. It's not an object. You can never touch it. There isn't even no such thing as the sky. It's only a perception from particular location. There's the background of space and there's the sunlight that creates the temporary illusion. We could say that there is a sky. But because it has no actual form, it's a helpful thing to look at the sky. Sky. It's a vast spaciousness. Today the sky here is totally clear. And that's. You can look at that spaciousness with inner spaciousness. If there are clouds, you see the. There's clouds and the clear sky also there. And sometimes there's just clouds, but still, there's still a spaciousness there. And the light is filtering through the clouds. And that could be used as an analogy for your inner state of consciousness, which can be totally overcast. Which means in this analogy, clouds are thoughts for Many people, their state of consciousness is continuously overcast, which means one thought leads into another and into another, and into another and into another. And all their consciousness is absorbed by thinking. So that's how most people still live on the planet. And then comes a time when you realize, oh, there's an opening, a bit of spaciousness. There's some blue sky coming through in between the clouds. So that means noticing the gap between two thoughts in yourself. And then occasionally you may find this mostly clear sky and just a few puffy clouds through floating past, which are little thoughts. You don't have to give them too much attention. And gradually you begin to be able to have that stillness, that spaciousness. Not just occasionally or when you are practicing meditation, but have it always, if not in the foreground of your life. That's not always possible. There are many things that happen in the foreground that you need to give attention to, but in the background. So when you're looking at something, you don't immediately label it, interpret it immediately form some fixed opinion or viewpoint, but there's a moment of non conceptualization and there's a stillness in the background against which the sense perception happens. And then whatever you look at, you look at. There is a dimension of depth to whatever you're looking at, which cannot be there if you immediately label everything. And sometimes that you don't even need an interpretation, you can just be there with the stillness against which the sense perception happens. Or if you need to have an interpretation, then after a moment of stillness, a thought arises concerning that particular situation, event or thing or person that is being perceived. It.