The pinpoint perspective of the present moment can feel so sharp but ultimately always impossible to fathom and out of our reach. As Erich von Hungen writes, it is simultaneously hard and soft, early and late, tiny and all-encompassing 'like a pocket-sized Big Bang.'
'Let's stop for one second,' wrote Pablo Neruda in a poetic manifesto for the very personal and very political act of doing nothing. He imagined the world stopping to catch its breath for a moment, and the 'sudden strangeness' that would emerge.
"Whatever way you are feeling now, whether you like it or not, whether it is inspired or depressed, right or wrong, sane or crazy, it is what it is in this moment."
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer encapsulates Walt Whitman's approach to the world: silent, solitary and mystical.
The true stillness that is at the root of human wisdom and the Taoist endeavor is a positive state, in as much as it is not the absence of anything nor a resistance to anything. Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu, author of foundational Taoist texts, writes in this poem: "The sage is quiet because he is not… Continue reading Chuang Tzu’s Action and Non-Action
Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian philosopher and visionary who spent his life writing, speaking and transmitting his ideas for a revolution in the human psyche. Not affiliated to any religion or institution, Krishnamurti's fiercely independent insights continue to inspire spiritual seekers from every walk of life. In this excerpt, like in so many of his… Continue reading Krishnamurti and Real Silence
