Let us begin with a simple experiment which will make self-evident
certain things which are common to the experience of everybody.
Sit comfortably in an upright, self-supporting position. Bring the body
to rest and, by attending to the breath, be sure that you are in touch
with your energy field. As before, bring your mind to rest by simply
listening to the sounds going on all around you without naming them or
reacting. Just observe how they arise from silence, resonate through
the silence and dissolve back into it. Relax into the space which is
becoming more apparent. With patience and your intelligent interest,
this practice will begin to free the mind from the burden of its
running commentary. Now close your eyes and repeat a simple sentence in
your mind. Say to yourself:-
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM
Listen - don't think about it - just hear it. Try that again.
This simple experiment shows us a great deal about the nature of our
common experience. In the first part of the experiment our attention
was turned out to listen to "external" sounds. We used our sense of
hearing to connect with sound. In meditative awareness both ears would
be fully open and turned outwards. The background of space and silence
would be self-evident, acknowledged and appreciated. In non-meditative
or unreflective awareness we find half our hearing is turned inwards to
a reactive running commentary on what we are hearing. Reason tells us
that this cannot be a satisfying state of affairs and direct experience
confirms it.
In the second part of our experiment the attention was turned
completely inwards to listen to "internal" sounds. We used our sense of
hearing to connect with inner or "subtle" sound.
This is the first important fact to emerge from this simple experiment.
The senses can quite easily be turned inwards or outwards to connect
with their respective objects. Both modes of experience are extremely
useful and there is a time and place for both.
Now consider further. When repeating to yourself "Be still and know
that I am", the experience contained four quite distinct aspects:
The action of self-expression - Speech;
The perception of self-expression - Hearing;
The means of self-expression - Sound;
The medium of self-expression - Space.
You will have been aware of all these four things simultaneously. If in any doubt, repeat the experiment and take note.
Here is another universal in human experience. Every experience shares
these four factors - Medium, Means, Action and Perception, all four of
which are different aspects of the same energy.
Just as we have five senses, there are five of these fourfold modes of
self-expression through which we may come to self-awareness. This is
why meditation can be approached through many and various practices
involving every sense. It can be understood that everything in our
experience is a combination of these five media. Each of us, for
example, inhabits a physical body, material and substantial. This is
enlivened by a body of energy which carries feeling throughout, from
the crown of the head to the tips of the toes. This is informed by our
"body of mind" which, if we are mindful, brings intelligent direction
to the expression of our feelings. All this is in accordance with our
taste, according to our attitude and intentions arising from our "body
of individual experience". All this takes place within our body of
space, which we become more aware of as meditative awareness deepens.
Before going further into this and examining its practical applications
for meditation, here is an example from nature which may help to
clarify the co-operation of these fivefold media of self-expression.
Take a seed of grain, itself a form of earth, sown in the soil in due
season. Buried in the earth, it receives water from the clouds and fire
from the sun, as Chaucer so memorably puts it "from which virtue
engendered is the floure". The energy from the seed is thus released
allowing it to grow, expand in space and bring forth fruit a
hundredfold.
This, harvested and milled, now takes the form of flour for making
bread. Each grain of flour, itself a form of earth, contains all that
has gone into its generation. When placed in a mixing bowl with the
amount of water, a myriad of such grains of flour coalesce into one
malleable substance which we call dough. This, kneaded by loving hands,
is informed with energy and air and then put to the fire of the oven
for baking, during which it "rises" and in the process becomes full of
space. We now have a loaf or rolls of bread - itself a form of earth -
"the staff of life", a potent symbol for the body of things.
The mouth-watering smell of fresh baked bread quickly engenders the
desire to eat. Here the substantial food is met in the mouth by saliva
and, through mastication, is reduced to a fluid form ready to swallow
(gulping down large lumps does not help digestion). In the stomach this
is met by the powerful agents of digestion which release the energies
in the bread for circulation throughout the body - thus providing
substance (flesh) lubrication and vitality in all its forms for the
body of the human being.
This example, I hope, illustrates the harmony of interaction of the
five elements or media for self-expression in both the environment and
the individual. Meditation leads us to this understanding of the basic
unity of creation, and meditative awareness enable us to connect with
it and maintain that connection in all our daily activities.
An example of this is available through speech - again this is common
to everybody, irrespective of variations such as gender, race, colour
or religion.
