Over the last few years, I have been suspecting that what we call silence in our world - the absence of noise - is just a big disguise for true silence. My readings have been leading me there, but it is a scary place indeed. It means letting go
of everything and being present. Yes: everything. This thought occurred to me when I heard that in Hindu tradition, silence is taught by sending people into the busiest parts of Indian cities, where noise is constant and overwhelmingly loud. They are to stay
at least 24 hours at a stretch, and perhaps it will take several stretches before they can be there in silence: their own interior silence. Then Aliveness can emerge.
I recalled this when I recently read a quote from Adyashanti: "All the words, all
the books, all the teachings and all the teachers can only get you to the door, and perhaps entice you to enter. Once there, you start to feel the presence of silence very powerfully...without being somebody." (Emptiness
Dancing, 5)