‘Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one’, Albert Einstein once said.
Buddhist teachings plainly state that our reality is just concepts in our mind. These are more often than not, scaffolded and reinforced by the bombardment of the mundane and the people and ‘the next thing’.
Stoking the internal and external chaos is social media.
When was the last time you had quality time with your mind? Freed from obligations, company, speech, electronic or any sort of stimulation? To just sit with your unarmoured mind and nurse that sacred, wounded, inner voice and intuition?
This silence is a luxury, a true scarcity – i’d argue that it’s rarer than a Rolex or Hermes or whatever the next rhetoric is. It can’t be bought with money, is coveted by the inflicted yet feared by even the most diabolical criminals – why do you think they are banished to solitary confinement? Although the currency required for Silence is only Time, not even those with Time can attain Silence. Some minds are just built in special ways and many more others may not know how to get an appointment.
Silence has a cathartic effect, ultimately (and usually). But the episodes may not be pleasant. As we energetically put ourselves in a corral, fragments of our experiential reality sprout in our minds that we’ve instinctively reinforced with an archive of endless happy memories and experiences. But, that’s where our naivete fails us. No matter the years of carefully labelled happiness, Silence’s merciless acts of ambush always hit hard.
All those mental artefacts that we hastily shovelled into special unmarked trough, somewhere deep in obscurity, seem to be pummelled by torrents. Its unwelcomed contents – even if they were your favourites – flushed to the surface in an instant and washed into the light of our consciousness. That’s when you realise that you’ve yet to toss the proverbial rose and cover the trough with earth. You have not moved on.
In those moments, our reality was indeed merely our figment of imagination. We weave intricate stories of strength to appease and console our minds and spirit, to find respite, to continue with the mundane. And then the lulls fool us into thinking that the fortitude is a fortress!
So what must happen next? I hope you get to know the simple yet profound answer to this.
Silence and inner peace have a symbiotic relationship. Those who have mastered the ultimate skill of stilling their minds are definitely esteemed bearers of inner peace! Just look at the austere buddhist monks who take a vow of silence.
Just imagining what wonders my expansive mind can show me when I can eventually sit still and just meditate. For now, I guess tuning out the outside world and curating my experiences have a healing effect.
Love and light to you!
