“We yearn for silence, yet the less sound there is, the more our thoughts deafen us. How can we still the noise within?…In Vipassana you concentrate on sensation in stillness, sitting down, not necessarily cross-legged, though most people do sit that way. And sitting without changing position, sitting still. As soon as you try to do this, you become aware of a connection between silence and stillness, noise and motion. No sooner are you sitting still than the body is eager to move, or at least to fidget. It grows uncomfortable. In the same way, no sooner is there silence than the mind is eager to talk. In fact we quickly appreciate that sound is movement: words move, music moves, through time. We use sound and movement to avoid the irksomeness of stasis. This is particularly true if you are in physical pain. You shift from foot to foot, you move from room to room. Sitting still, denying yourself physical movement, the mind’s instinctive reaction is to retreat into its normal buzzing monologue — hoping that focusing the mind elsewhere will relieve physical discomfort. This would normally be the case; normally, if ignored, the body would fidget and shift, to avoid accumulating tension. But on this occasion we are asking it to sit still while we think and, since it can’t fidget, it grows more and more tense and uncomfortable. Eventually, this discomfort forces the mind back from its chatter to the body. But finding only discomfort or even pain in the body, it again seeks to escape into language and thought. Back and forth from troubled mind to tormented body, things get worse and worse. Silence, then, combined with stillness — the two are intimately related — invites us to observe the relationship between consciousness and the body, in movement and moving thought.”
~ Tim Parks, Inner Peace
This essay by Tim Parks is worth reading in its entirety. You can find it at this link. Parks references his book Cleaver in the essay. The book was chosen as a Sunday Telegraph Book of the Year. It is one of the funniest novels that I have read. You can read my review of Cleaver at this link.
Credits: Portrait of Phara De Aguirre by Stephan Vanfleteren. Quote: Inner Peace, Aeon Magazine
There is no change without discomfort. The push and pull of seeking greater awareness and dealing with the discomfort of doing so. This was terrific – as was your review.
Thank you Mimi. This man (Tim Parks) has a long of range…
Great blog brilliant photo
Both are Scott, I’m with you.
Reblogged this on Wholeheartedness.
Thanks for sharing Todd
This is a great piece to share with my meditation groups this week. Thanks, David.
Glad you enjoyed it Sandy Sue.
But I like listening to my thoughts….It’s when I can’t have peace and quiet to think that I get frustrated. I don’t want it so silent that I can’t think. I can have that kind of silence when I’m dead. (Okay, I’ll admit, maybe I have the wrong idea of what I’m supposed to do with this silence.)
LAUGHING! That is so funny. (STILL LAUGHING)
The person in the photo definitely appears to be in some trance-like state of stillness…in fact, downright creepy. Do I HAVE to go there??? I’m teasing…it’s one of those days. I’m actually wishing for silence and stillness…but not creepiness. 🙂
Creepy. CREEPY. OMG. You turned such a beautiful photo into a Halloween story? Go take a nap friend. (Actually now that I look at the shot, it is a bit creepy. Walker/Walking Dead anyone?)
Lol!!!
The quiet sometimes longed for was easy this weekend, soaking up some sunshine on the beach while listening to the ocean and all the peoples there taking in the same beauty. But, then we had to come home…
Debra
🙂 Ahhhh, sounds wonderful Debra.
I am definitely going to read this book because maybe this way I get an answer or a clue for the question, “How can we still the noise within?… ” I have got this problem of “Mind-Talk” which is not positive 99% of the times. Besides, your review was quite interesting David 🙂
You won’t find the answer is that book (Cleaver). But it’s an enjoyable read. 🙂
Interesting review. I find it very difficult to silence my mind, though trying hard.
Me too. Very much.
You too friend, and I though you will give me some suggestions.
I’ve read this now for the 3rd time and it clicked. The balance between the mind and body, fighting for attention and washing each other out.
Glad to hear it. It only takes you 3x for something to click. Meanwhile my head is still clicking on topic.