Spiritual Practice
Pure Silence is here and now. There is nothing you can do to make yourself experience it or be aware of it. However, by allowing the thought patterns of the mind to quiet, by attending to the silence itself, without concept, without force, without direction you will quietly and most subtly realize that which is always here.
There have been various forms of meditative or contemplative practices in the various spiritual traditions, all declaring their various benefits for the practitioner. I offer one simple grain of advice. Silence is free to all. There are no masters and no disciples. One second of complete attentive awareness of Pure Silence has and is the same effect of having been a meditator for 30 years. Sorry to inform you but you have not earned points or merit because you have spent 4 hours a day in deep meditation, or hours on your knees asking forgiveness from a guilt ridden conscience. Pure Silence cradles all equally, even our neighbors in the animal kingdom. Once you do realize the wondrous joy of silent loving awareness, you also realize how absolutely ridiculous any method you've tried in the past has been.
Physical silence is wonderful for the body and the brain. By sitting still and calmly witnessing all that arises, we can learn to enjoy silence as the friend which it is. All memory will arise eventually in the silence if we allow it to be; this can be wonderfully healing. But if we are looking for any thing more than that or looking for an experience or something to take away from the silence, we will be sadly mistaken and could even be causing damage to our psyche. Remember, you cannot take a piece of infinity and run away with it. Infinity is just that, it contains your own very being. You are this Pure Silence itself. You already have everything you need. You are already free, already saved, already enlightened, you are Nirvana and Samadhi. You do not need a condition of no-mind or see Delta brain waves vibrating on an EEG machine. You are already there or shall I say--here. Having been a meditator for some time and having had all sorts of experiences, please believe me when I say, they are all nothing. I repeat, these experiences are nothing at all. What is important is right in this moment, in the stillness of here and now. Trust this alone. In this silent space is reality itself. All the practice does is show us very humbly and symbolically what we must do in every life event. That is to be still as a witness to all that arises.
Namaste!