You may want to take a moment before beginning to turn off any unusual loud sounds around you,
Any notifications on your phone or tablet.
But don't make your space completely silent.
Allow your clocks to tick,
The wind to rustle.
Maybe there's a distant voice in your home or a neighbor's.
We're not looking for absolute silence because that's not possible,
Except in specially designed anechoic chambers.
We just want to embrace the relative silence of a quiet world.
Make yourselves comfortable.
Most of our time will be spent without me talking,
So settle in.
Sitting cross-legged on a cushion,
Legs and arms uncrossed in a comfortable chair,
Even lying down with your arms at your side,
Allowing your eyes to close.
In this meditation,
We're going to listen to the ears of our ears and use the eyes of our eyes.
So begin to draw inward as you inhale,
Slowing down,
Settling down,
Finding your way into stillness and silence,
Letting the silence wrap you up like a shawl or a blanket,
Breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly.
Letting thoughts and cognitive processes drift off,
Fading into the air like steam from a kettle,
Letting your mind go and dissipate as if in a dream.
Settling your awareness on your breath,
Noticing the mass of your body,
And feeling inertia,
Pleasant stability and stillness.
For the remainder of this meditation,
You won't hear me very much.
I'll just cue you periodically to come back to the ears of your ears and the eyes of your eyes,
And in between,
Just notice silence,
Which is not itself truly silent.
You might hear a clock ticking,
Birds twiddling,
The movement of pets,
Small,
Pleasant little disruptions and noises that form the music of silence.
And somewhere in all of that,
Using the ears of our ears and the eyes of our eyes,
Is the small,
Minute and quiet voice of God.
However,
You might know God,
The voice of the world,
The voice of your higher power,
The spirit within you.
We're going to draw through the quiet to a deeper place.
So just continuing to breathe and listening to the deeper silence.
So from the ears of your ears,
What do you hear?
So so so enjoying the silence.
What are the small flourishes of your environment or subtle sounds of your body?
Seek out the deeper voice.
Listen.
So so is there a message in the silence?
So so so what can you perceive through the ears of your ears and the eyes of your eyes?
What do you notice?
So so trust the silence.
And in that silent space,
Is there a small,
Still voice calling to you?
Now listen for it.
So so so continue listening until our closing bell.
So so
