I am lying in bed at the end of the day.
I turn off the light and close my eyes.
In a short while I will go somewhere I can never remember,
somewhere I can’t describe in words or convey in pictures.
The place I go after dreaming.
I am sitting in meditation.
I have stopped thinking and am in a place I can never remember,
somewhere I can’t describe in words or convey in pictures.
Where I go in deep dreamless sleep
and where I go in meditation
are the same place.
I call it the mystery
but any word would do for a place that can’t be conveyed with words or pictures.
This is disturbing for us because we are so used to listening to words.
Words, words, words, all day long.
When there are no words coming from the outside we listen to the words in our head.
We are also very used to seeing pictures.
All day we look out at existence,
or the TV, the laptop,
or the smart phone.
When there are no pictures from the outside we look at the pictures in our head.
Because the mystery can’t be conveyed in words or pictures it is easy to overlook and miss.
Deep dreamless sleep and meditation are two sides of the same coin.
Deep dreamless sleep is a lovely reference point that is relatively easy to experience.
It is an unconscious process that naturally brings us to the mystery.
Meditation is a conscious route to the same place.
Consciously going to the mystery requires us to let go of words and pictures and be profoundly receptive to the eternal silence that remains when words and pictures are gone.
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