Where Stillness Waits: Beyond Circumstantial Calm

We have all experienced moments of circumstantial calmness – whether through a relaxing walk in nature, immersion in art and beauty, or through music, yoga, intimacy, meditation, and other such events that can calm mind and body. These moments offer a respite from the overactive mind, afflictive emotions, and daily challenges. We seek out these desirable circumstances, valuing them greatly. 

However, all circumstances are impermanent. They may last moments or longer, but their nature is transient. In time they will pass. Why? Because all phenomena and experience are transitory. When circumstances change so does our mental state – more calm, less calm, no calm, or back to our usual stress. Circumstance-based calmness, while pleasant and helpful, is fragile and fleeting. Join me in this Podcast to explore how circumstantial can be replace by a pervasive and stable serenity.

Transcript

     Where Stillness Waits: A Calm Not Born of Circumstance

We have all experienced moments of circumstantial calmness – whether through a relaxing walk in nature, immersion in art and beauty, or through music, yoga, intimacy, meditation, and other such events that can calm mind and body. These moments offer a respite from the overactive mind, afflictive emotions, and daily challenges. We seek out these desirable circumstances, valuing them greatly.

How do these circumstances allow for a mental and physical calming? For a time, they shift our attention away from self-absorption. The usual concerns of the personal “I”– ceaseless thoughts, emotions, mental imagery, memories, and future concerns – loosen their grip, allowing space for mental calm. Our personal “I” quiets down and both mind and body relax. In your day-to-day life you may notice how certain desired circumstances soften the presence and activity of the ego-based “I.” We cherish these life circumstances and even become attached to them.

However, all circumstances are impermanent. They may last moments or longer, but their nature is transient. In time they will pass. Why? Because everything – persons, places, and events – come into existence from a complex interplay of factors, elements, and causes. Everything is dependent on its component parts or related circumstances. Nothing exists in isolation or is entirely self-sustaining. When one aspect shifts, everything inter-connected changes. Life is an ever flowing inter-dependent and inter-connected whole. Change is built-in. All phenomena and experience, our personal “I” included, are transitory. When circumstances change so does our mental state – more calm, less calm, no calm, or back to our usual stress. Circumstance-based calmness, while pleasant and helpful, is fragile and fleeting.

There is, however, a deeper, more enduring calm we might call serenity. In meditation we may experience this profound serenity and stillness that is independent of any circumstance – person, place, or event. Unlike circumstantial calmness, it is stable, ever-present, natural, and effortless. Why do we expend our efforts looking outward at unreliable circumstances when the essence of what we seek is already within? The answer is clear. Our personal sense of “I,” our ego, develops early in life and serves as an instrument of consciousness that assists us in navigating day-to-day life. It simultaneously covers over our true and foundational self – the source of natural serenity. But through practice, we can uncover this natural serenity once again. 

When you touch this self-essence, this pervasive stillness, it will also appear transient, as it’s likely to last for short periods of time. But, like the sun hidden by clouds it is nonetheless always there, unlike circumstantial calm. The problem is the obscuring clouds. Similar to the sun that’s obscured by clouds, our strong habit of living in our personal self – as if was our exclusive self – pulls us back into the world of reaction, habits, past, and future, obscuring our ever-present essence with its built-in timeless serenity. The mere awareness of our natural state of stillness increases the familiarity and possibility of experiencing it for longer stretches of time. How do we orient our formal practice to experience an unconditioned awareness and its perfume of serenity and stillness?

Step #1

The first step in meditation, and for many, the last step, is to calm the overactive mind with what we can call “meditation with support.” We use a focal point and bring our attention to it. This point can be breath, mantra, verbal guidance, walking, or any other activity that nurtures attention and concentration. When we lose awareness of our focus, we gently bring our attention back. Practiced consistently, these methods calm the mind. However, they are only preparation for the deeper stages in meditation.

 Step #2

The second step begins to open the meditation. The approach shifts from focused awareness to an open, observing awareness. We let go of our focus on a specific object and allow awareness to expand naturally. This is an important shift. We gain the insight that, when left unattended and without elaboration, mental activity is fleeting and transient. We discover that if we take no interest in our thoughts, they quickly dissolve on their own, leaving stillness in their wake. A simple Zen proverb illustrates this well: Allow mental activity to enter through the front door of your mind and leave through the back door—without serving it tea! This is the essence of open meditation without support.

Step #3

The third step in meditation is becoming aware of awareness itself. This may seem a bit strange for two reasons. The first, is that it is a non-dual state in which awareness is aware of itself. The subject and object are the same – awareness. Second, awareness itself does not have the qualities of a “thing.” It has no shape, color, mass, specific location, or contour—yet it’s everywhere all the time, like space. We must learn to recognize and become comfortable with this no-thingness of awareness. In the beginning, we are drawn again and again back into mental activity/objects. We watch this, let the mind return to stillness and then resume awareness observing awareness.

Step #4

The fourth step is distinct from the first three. It happens spontaneously – when it happens cannot be willed. This movement is the union with awareness itself. Awareness watching awareness dissolves into pure awareness, much like a river merging into the sea. In this state there is oneness, unity, wholeness. When it happens, you will know. There is nothing to do – just rest in the easeful isness, suchness, thatness of the moment. And that, is the return to where we started from, – pristine awareness and presence. 

These moments of union and pristine awareness will be brief and transient. You may find yourself dropping back to awareness watching awareness, witnessing awareness, or even an object-based focus on mental activity. Allow your mediation to unfold naturally. Notice when the ego arises – when it becomes frustrated, seeks to control and structure the meditation, or judges the experience. It’s all okay, if you maintain awareness and presence.

With practice, during and after formal meditation, you will develop greater stability and extended periods of presence, serenity, and stillness. This serenity will progressively underlie all of your life and pervade all of your experiences. Even the great challenges of life will take on a certain serenity that would not previously seem possible. Rather than grasping on to people, places, and things for brief moments of circumstance-based calmness, we shall own and re-integrate our natural and ever present serenity and stillness.