Dear friends and supporters,

Posted on October 10, 2015

“There is one thing in this world which you must never forget to do. If you forget everything else and not this, there is nothing to worry about, but if you remember everything else and forget this, then you will have done nothing in your life.” ~Rumi

Rumi is reminding us that Self realization is the ultimate and the most essential journey for any individual …

Rumi’s reminder is the underpinning of StillnessSpeaks … and it is crucial that this journey is driven by the individual – in every regard ! As the Sufi saying goes “… there are as many paths to the Divine as there are beings on the planet.”

To this end, StillnessSpeaks is a portal in service to those seeking Self Realization – to date it has been the online “resource dedicated to those interested in direct inquiry, meditation, satsang and yoga in the pursuit of self realization and enlightenment.”

This “resource” has been dormant since last year … but things have been gradually unfolding these past few months so we want to update you with the current “goings on” ….

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1) Facebook

In May of this year we “restarted” our facebook page and it is most gratifying, and humbling, to discover that the page is very activeall because of the StillnessSpeaks facebook community of supporters !

Since the May “restart” we have seen post engagement (= total of likes, shares, and comments) in thousands and post reach in tens of thousands. Post reach has been increasing from 200,000 per week (in May) to a peak of 4,400,000 (late July to Mid August) …. finally “settling” at around 400,000/week. A new wave started to climb earlier this week and now post reach is at around 2,700,000 per week as of this posting.

The explosive and expanding interest in awakening seen at StillnessSpeaks is a remarkable fact: it is a “silent roar” of a new vision for our planet.

Together, let us celebrate our thriving community – StillnessSpeaks is here because of you!

2) Other Social Channels

Aside from Facebook, we have not been active on other social channels, e.g., Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ … this will change shortly and we will also be adding other pertinent channels, e.g., Pinterest and Instagram.

3) Website

Our website has been dormant since 2013 and is still based on 2007 technology and is badly in need of upgrading to current standards of underlying technology (e.g., mobile friendly) and also the graphics “look-and-feel.”

In September, the website was upgraded to become mobile friendly.

We are now in the process of migrating the site to WordPress and giving it a contemporary “look and feel.”

4) Financials

As you are probably aware, StillnessSpeaks is a non-profit 501(c) 3.

All of the current renovation plans require significant funds.

Our income primarily comes from the products listed both on Amazon marketplace and on our custom Amazon Webstore (available both on the website and the facebook page).

The custom webstore was cost prohibitive to maintain so it was closed on October 7, 2015. However, the marketplace is a decent revenue source and will continue as is.

In the very near future, we will be offering some form of a renovated “web store” on our own digital assets (e.g., website, facebook) that is cost effective.

In the past we have also relied on the generous donations of our supporters. Naturally, since 2013, these valuable resources have dwindled as the activity of StillnessSpeaks has declined. Our hope is that the renovation will bring new life into ongoing donations from our generous supporters.

5) Fundraising

To meet the expenses for the renovation efforts we will utilize crowd fund raising. A campaign will be launched in the very near future…. please stay tuned for more details.

The success of our fundraising is entirely in your hands!

NOTE: We want to personally thank those of you who have helped StillnessSpeaks continue its operations. Without your help, StillnessSpeaks might have closed. Funds raised, in the past, were used to offset the normal monthly expenses e.g., the server, email system, and amazon webstore.

We are now re-skinning and updating the website, archiving older material and expanding resources of interest to our expanding community of like minded friends – our “sangha” – in an environment that is perennial, integral and free from promotion of any particular path.

We hope this service will remain a vital resource for this and future generations.

Your faith in our integrity and support for our work has been our blessing for which we are most grateful.

6) StillnessSpeaks Management

Simultaneous to facebook page rejuvenation, we have been making some changes within StillnessSpeaks. We bid farewell to dears Mahesh and Sandhya who brought their unique talents and perspective to SS and guided it for the last couple years – for which we are deeply grateful. We wish them the very best in their ongoing exploration of life.

Now we have a new team coming together.

In May 2015, Chris and the Manifests (Cherie and Sanjiv) came together to rekindle StillnessSpeaks through their shared passion for enhancing the non-profit organization’s ability to aggregate and distribute authentic resources of the many paths of self inquiry across all traditions: be they spiritual, philosophical, or scientific.

StillnessSpeaks reflects the perennial view: a perspective which views each of the world’s spiritual and philosophical traditions as sharing a single, universal truth on which foundation all knowledge and doctrine has grown. As Aldous Huxley once said, “One Reality, all-comprehensive, contains within itself all realities.”

The website thus celebrates the fact of non-duality – a view being embraced by our growing  audience:

“It is only when we have renounced our preoccupation with “I,” “me,” “mine,” that we can truly possess the world in which we live. Everything, provided that we regard nothing as property. And not only is everything ours; it is also everybody else’s.”  ~Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy

Formerly, StillnessSpeaks had a distinctly Indian traditional Advaita Vedanta look and feel. The new graphics and orientation will have a more open, welcoming contemporary graphical interface. This is meant to ensure that our intention is clear:  our approach is integral, all are welcome.

We have elected a new Board and will be bringing on Board level advisors over time as we complete various steps in our renovation efforts.

More details will be posted as our plans unfold.

7) Vision

StillnessSpeaks is a preeminent resource for self inquiry and self exploration – the endless journey of self realization.

“Your own self realization is the greatest service you can give the world.”— Ramana Maharshi

StillnessSpeaks will continue this mission expanding and offering resources from all traditions allowing our visitors to deeply explore the “many paths up the mountain:” from Christian to Sufi, from Zen to Hindu, Kabbalist to Kashmir Shaivism, Advaitic to Indigenous, from philosophical to atheist, from spiritual to scientific. The list is endless.

As the Japanese Proverb proclaimed: “There are many paths up the Mountain, but the view of the moon from the top is the same.”

We will offer the work and wisdom of sages/teachers – both historical and contemporary, Eastern and Western – allowing interested individuals to explore the “reality of their experience.” This exploration is very personal, intimate, and not subject to any “absolutes” – which is why our intention is to provide content from, and assist explorations into, all traditions.

This intention will continue to be manifested in all of our web channels – our website and all of our social media channels (facebook, youtube, twitter, google+ and more, in time).

Life is a constant ebb and flow that is grounded in the “constancy” of change ! …

“Of the unknowable only silence talks. The mind can talk only of what it knows. If you diligently investigate the knowable, it dissolves and only the unknowable remains.

But with the first flicker of imagination, interest in the unknowable is obscured and the known comes to the fore. The known, the changing, is what you live with – the unchangeable is of no use to you.

Only when you are satiated with the changeable and long for the unchangeable, are you ready for the turning round and stepping into what can be described, when seen from the level of the mind, as emptiness and darkness. …” ~Nisargadatta Maharaj

With gratitude,
Chris, Cherie, and Sanjiv

Photo credit: By Aleksey Gnilenkov, (CC BY 2.0)

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