Listening is one of the great keys to
awareness. It connects directly to sound and the natural medium
for sound is space and the essential quality of space is joy.
Here is a simple exercise in listening awareness.
Sit comfortably and at ease with your back erect without strain, and if
possible let the spine be self-supporting. Focus your awareness
at the point where the bridge of the nose meets the upper lip and
experience the sense of touch. You will be able to feel the
breath entering and leaving the nostrils. Do not try to change
anything; simple feel the moving air entering and leaving the
nostrils. Be in touch. Now extend your awareness to include
the entire energy field of the body - from the crown of the head to the
tips of your toes. Feel the air playing on your bare skin, your
hands and face. Feel the weight of your body, keep in touch.
Now begin to listen - not to anything in particular, but just listen to
all the sounds that come to your awareness. Avoid naming the
sounds, talking to yourself about them, liking or disliking them - just
listen. As your listening extends, be in touch with the expansion
of space in your awareness. Hear all the sounds and acknowledge
their harmony with each other. As you listen, acknowledge also
the silence. Observe how all the sounds that come to your
awareness arise out of silence, how they resonate through and are
sustained by the silence and how they dissolve back into the
silence. Hear both the silence and the sounds and remain in the
awareness of space.
You may have noticed in this practice the clear distinction between the
changing sounds, constantly rising and falling, and the never-changing,
unmoving silence. With practice comes the ability to stand quite
comfortably with one foot in the silence and one foot in the sound -
fully present in both. The art is in not naming the sounds.
You may have the courage to try this out, even in conversation.
When others are speaking, listen only to the sound of their voices - do
not focus on the words. You may be amazed by what you hear in
this new approach to communication. When speaking yourself,
listen only to the sound of your own voice as it speaks. After
all - if you are not prepared to listen to your own speech, why would
anyone else be expected to listen to it? This, too, brings in a
new dimension to communication. Too often the person speaking is
at the same time preparing the next sentence whilst the person
listens, in fact, busily rehearsing their response - and both end up
wondering why there is no communication or understanding.
A women came to a meditation teacher. She was almost a nervous
wreck - tense, worried and very haggard. Her problem was lack of
proper sleep. For too long she had been plagued by her husbands
snoring. Night after night he snored away. Night after
night she had struggled to get to sleep, to no avail. Ear plugs
she had tried, but they were no use. Still the snoring was
ringing in her ears. Sedatives had had no effect against this
mighty snoring. Now she was desperate, almost mad. What
could she do?
The teacher asked, "Have you tried listening to the snoring?"
"What! Are you mad?", cried the poor woman. "I don't want
to hear it. Thats's what's keeping me awake. I can't stand
it and you want me to listen to it?"
Patiently the teacher taught her about silence and how not to name, like or dislike the sound, but how to really listen to it.
One week later she came back - dancing - looking 20 years
younger. "I thought that you were crazy, but you were right", she
cried. "I tried it the way you showed me. What could I
lose? I'd tried everything else. And it worked. It
was such a beautiful lullaby - it sent me straight to sleep."
And so we can meditate in both sound and silence.
