Speaking from Stillness is a fun series transcribing unscripted thoughts while on morning dog walks in my jungle valley. I walk in stillness, then allow whatever arises to get recorded and transcribed. I try to keep them short. The transcript is lightly edited for clarity.
The Cicadas are back. It’s one of those sounds that is just background noise sometimes. And when it stops for months, you forget it was ever there. But then when it comes back, it’s Wow, it’s beautiful.
There’s something about connecting with and sitting in nature and seeing the patterns over time. Because now I know that the start of the rainy season is what brings the Cicadas.
But it is a sound that if you pay attention to it, it is intricate and pleasant and enveloping. And kind of wonderful.
But it’s also possible to exist in it and not pay attention to it. And just talk a little louder. Of course, the sound is only up in my valley (and) at my house in the valley. When you go to town, it is not there.
Something there about the Truth of One-ness. After a Glimpse, after revelation, after some understanding, after some Connection with Knowing…in those quiet moments, it’s possible to sit and be still, and disengage from the hustle bustle of the world, of the life.
And let go of the thoughts, and feel the connections, and let go of the self, and the controlling and the wanting, and Just Be. And sometimes that takes a little concentration, to stop the minds multitasking, to slow down, and Just Be.
But when that Being is there, and that Being is noticed, and that emptiness, and that no-thought, or that single thought, and the simplicity…Once you see it and you feel it and you let it envelop you…It is wonderful. Why would you ever want anything else?
For me the Cicadas are like that today. I can’t imagine not having this sound surrounding me, it’s wonderful!
Path-walking is Recognizing Truth. Initially in a moment, investigating Truth, sitting with Truth, and Trusting that Truth will support you. And then it’s letting go of the ‘you’, and another level of Surrender and Trust is required.
And then recognizing the Ego, the identity-creation-mechanism, and seeing it and throwing sand in the gears of the mechanism and potentially the crowbar once in a while, practicing the stopping-stopping-stopping of the controlling of the me-me,-me and resting in the One-One-One.
Living in the cave in silence, as One, abiding with One, is a possibility. I’ve come to recognize that in this One that would be possible…and quite luxurious and wonderful. But the path of the marketplace, of living in the world, requires greater understanding…
Requires greater understanding of others and accepting of others, but a greater understanding and accepting of yourself. That perfection is not what is looked for…because you give up attaining, and making mistakes is okay.
It’s ‘Can I stay in this moment, more and more and more?’
And this is a game that is played for life…There is no end-state, there is no end-goal, there are fluctuations and palpitations. And to accept that, while remaining in the moment…and the great gift of the removal, or the intense decrease of suffering…That is the game.
To hear the Cicadas, to stop and enjoy them when they are here,
And not long for them when they are gone,
But to enjoy the moment and the beauty of the sound in this moment,
And expanding that into every moment.
Thank you, Cicadas.
