"The still small voice is always there...we choose to pay attention or not." ~ KCH
Meditation is an ancient practice found in all eastern and western spiritual traditions. Websters dictionary defines meditation as a mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a spiritual goal. That definition does not quite get to the heart of the matter. Meditation is a practice in stilling the body long enough for the mind to settle. During the practice thoughts arise and the practitioner lets them go as if observing someone or something passing by. The act is likened to sitting on a river bank and watching the flow of water as it cascades down the rocks, seeps through the tiniest crevice and rolls gently down through the trough it has made for itself. If you follow the river, you would see that it truly never stops. Neither does the mind and its incessant flow. In meditation we learn to disengage, to not become the water that never stops flowing, to not be the thoughts that never cease but rather to know that we are not our thoughts, we are not what's on the surface rather we are what flows deep within the well of our beings.
Deep inside each of us lies a still small voice. In some of us our minds, thus our thoughts, could be likened to a hurricane - as they gain speed on the water and hit land causing mass destruction. Thoughts that are left to run their own course gain speed and momentum - they, our thoughts take on a life of their own. But just as in the eye of a hurricane there is an ever present calm - deep inside of our beings there is also a stillness.
The mind and its habits are strong like the river cascading along its path. Through the practice of meditation we learn to listen to stillness underneath. Our thoughts are like the river in that the majority of the movement happens on the surface. Finding that center, uncovering the stillness can be cultivated. In this place we begin to hear the still small voice that lies beneath the surface. Some call it our God voice. A voice of reason, loving kindness and compassion. In each of us the voice is specific and unique to our being. It's been there all along waiting patiently for us to invite it into our conscious awareness.
