Gift Of Quiet Moments? Klein's Being In Meditation & Real Nature

quiet moments: “… It is like being alone in the desert. At first you listen to the absence of sounds and you call it silence. Then suddenly you may be taken by the presence of stillness where you are one with listening itself …” ~ Jean Klein

What is being in meditation? … and what is our real nature? … both these questions are very common in “spiritual circles” … but are a profound “encounter” for the earnest explorer in the self realization journey.

Of course, this “encounter” naturally leads to the even deeper question : who am I? …

We’ve been exploring Jean Klein’s answers to such questions through substantive previews of some of his books (via chapter excerpts) … that are transcripts of Jean’s gatherings … and typically contain Q&As with the audience (sometimes preceded by a brief talk) :

… we began with his classic Book of Listening … in a 5-part series … and

… then Living Truth which is ongoing with 2-parts so far … and

And, more recently we started previewing Who Am I … in a multi-part series with Part 1 taking a mini dive into acceptance & surrender …

So, for this part 2, here are Jean’s “anchoring” thoughts on the post’s opening two questions:

“… Meditation is the stillness behind all activity …”

“… Our real nature is stillness beyond all complementarities. It is presence without becoming. In the absence of becoming there is completeness and absolute tranquillity. This tranquillity is the home ground of all activity …”

In the post, we offer Jean’s remarks (in one of his gatherings) on meditation followed by a pertinent question (commonly raised by many in varying forms) … with Jean’s answer that also touches on our real nature:

My life is so busy that I’m not even aware of these quiet moments you speak of. How then can I even begin to be taken by them?

{All italicized text below is from Who Am I by Jean Klein and is published here with the publisher New Sarum Press ‘ generous permission. Scroll to the bottom for a free downloadable Table of Contents.}

Meditation

Where there is no meditator there is nothing to meditate upon

Meditation is not a mental or physical activity. We cannot say what meditation is in the field of objective knowledge. It is not anything perceivable. It is not in the field of existence, energy and motion, but is a non-state beyond all states. Meditation is the source of motion and motionlessness. So, clearly, it is not a function, not something you can do.

Being in meditation brings a new way of living from moment to moment, a living that cannot be divided into compartments: some time for business, some for eating, some for meditation, and so on. You cannot go in and out of meditation. It is the support of all activity. In the diversity of everyday life the background remains always the same and all activities are spontaneous expressions of this background.

In meditation living is spontaneous. Life flows on without reference to a controlling centre, an ego. The I-image looks for survival in situations. It seeks security in repetition and acquired patterns of behaviour. It endeavours to make everything new and unknown into the known. As long as this controlling sense of individuality is functioning, we can never come to spontaneous living, to the non-state from which all states spring.

Meditation is the background of all doing, all activity. It is often taken to be a giving up of activity. But stopping the mind is not meditation. This very giving up is still an activity. Meditation is the stillness behind all activity and so-called non-activity.

Meditation is all-inclusive: all its expressions are within itself.

Gift Of Quiet Moments? … and Our Real Nature …

Q. My life is so busy that I’m not even aware of these quiet moments you speak of. How then can I even begin to be taken by them?

A. It is important at first that you accept the possibility that your real nature is tranquillity, silence. You will then be open to a new perspective.

Begin to notice that the instant a desire is fulfilled there is a fleeting moment of desirelessness when no thought remains. This desire-free moment is of the same nature as the silence you continually are. It is a small window through which, if you look, light floods into your shadowy room. The same stillness appears in the space between two thoughts or when an action has been accomplished and there is nothing to be done immediately afterwards. This stillness is fulfilment.

In daily life there are moments when the thinking process comes naturally to a stop. But it is not an absence of producing. You feel yourself in completeness because there has been no will involved. Take note just before going to sleep when the body gives up being a body. It is like the setting sun. You watch the sun and feel yourself the seer. So if you watch your body dissolve in totality, there may come moments when you feel yourself still awake. In the morning when the body wakes up, it is like the rising sun. Let the body wake up slowly. Then you see that you are already awake before the body reappears. This awareness which is not associated with the body-mind is the same as that which is between thoughts and desires.

Stay tuned for more … Jean Klein’s teachings from Who Am I …

All italicized text above (except otherwise noted) is from Who Am I by Jean Klein and is published here with the publisher New Sarum Press ‘ generous permission.

And click here for a FREE downloadable copy of the Table of Contents, graciously and generously made available by the publisher New Sarum Press.