Inner silence

 Below are the meditation notes I wrote after a recent one-hour ‘meditation’. 

I’m aware that there is a risk of misleading new meditators with this one because it could be taken as implying that a state of inner silence or ‘no-thought’ is something to pursue or aim for and having that as an aim is not a good idea. For one thing that tends to create a future orientation and it’s generally better to be focused on the present moment. Also, some people think that they are doing something wrong when thoughts pop up. If it helps clarify the point, there are times when plenty of thoughts pop up in my mind while I’m engaging in some kind of meditative practice. That’s fine. I suggest you try just noting that a thought (or emotion, or whatever) popped up and watch it fade and leave…

Anyway, I decided that it would be good to include this one because inner silence does sometimes happen so here are the notes I wrote shortly after the ‘meditation.’

– start

Intention:

None – the silence simply started.

–

Observation:

Silence within that lasted for about an hour.

Two names were the only thoughts to emerge in that time, neither of any obvious significance.

There were occasional ‘inner ripples,’ but they never became a thought or feeling.

There was awareness of sensory inputs, such as visual and auditory perception, throughout the 'meditation'.

It ended an hour later as I felt like moving on to things other than sitting.

There were no apparent ‘after effects’ such as feeling more calm or peaceful.

–

Insight:

There was no feeling of this being profound or transcendent in any way – there was simply inner silence for an hour.

Silence comes more easily these days, but there was a qualitative increase in the ease of dropping into the silence this time.

– finish