Inner Work

For the week of March 12, 2007

The Field of Presence

Two of the primary components of presence consist of the will-arrow and the conscious field. These two complementary aspects create the foundation of our inner life, the will and the being of a whole person. Last week we studied the will-arrow of presence. This week we take up the field of presence.

Consciousness, the conscious energy, forms the boundless being-field of presence. Abiding in the stillness of consciousness, the clear and cognizant substance of your pure awareness fills all directions. Everything falls within this vast, timeless, and spacious field of your being. Though always here and available, the ability to recognize and be in consciousness depends on an acquired taste, a perception of the subtle and usually overlooked substance of awareness itself. Once we have this taste, we grow able to enter the conscious field of presence during ordinary activities.

To acquire the taste of consciousness, however, meditation proves indispensable. Sitting quietly and patiently, letting go of our physical tensions, relaxing our emotional stress, and noticing the mesmerizing whisper of our thoughts, we enter the silence. Thoughts and images, though, continue arising, captivating us, and thus keeping us from our place in the still waters of awareness. In the stillness, any train of thought is suspect. Am I on that train or am I seeing it pass by? Again and yet again, we get off the train and return to just sitting. We allow the thoughts and images to come and go as they will, seeing them without being caught by them, without being them, without thinking them. Even as the thoughts and images continue, the stillness grows beneath them and the silence emerges. Thoughts float by on the surface of our mind, while we enter the quiet depths.

Becoming accustomed to that silence, we begin to know it as more than just a lack of thoughts and inner noise. We feel the palpable, substantive quality of the silence itself. And then it dawns on us that the silence is none other than the very substance of our awareness, our consciousness. That silent field, that stillness is consciousness, boundless and eternal. We become the silence. Thoughts, images, and sounds may pass, but we rest in and as the silence.

For this week, find times to sit quietly and relax patiently. Step off the train of thoughts, open to stillness, enter wholeness, and become the silence. Remarkable peace and joy await you here.

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