There is a channel between voice and presence,
a way where information flows.
In disciplined silence the channel opens.
With wandering talk, it closes.
Rumi
It has been sunny and warm most of this fall season. A friend Karen and I like to end our workweek with a walk, and we have found ourselves seeking partially shaded paths. One leads through local neighborhoods to a canyon with a stream and lush vegetation. Even with our lack of rain, water still ripples over a rocky streambed, making its way to an edge of a cliff where it spills into a canyon and continues its flow below.
The trail slopes gently from the upper to the lower part of the stream. At the base of the waterfall, it feels timeless. The water drops like tears from the outcropping above. As it moves over the face of the stone, its sound shifts and changes. Somehow it conveys emotions outside the reach of words, so it is comforting to pause within this worldly chasm of eternity – and to sit and listen.
All the stories of the world seem to be told within the falling water. Just as tears can express our joys and sufferings, each drop stirs something within. As Karen and I sat on a bench during our last visit to the waterfall, I felt a sense of the ever-present yielding and letting go of life. For example, the day gives way to night, night to day, rivers to oceans and oceans to shores, plains into mountain and mountains to plains, exhales to inhales, and inhales to exhales. And, the fall leaves yield to the earth where they form compost for new life.
Poets such as Rumi can bring us to the openness of the pause. Within the space between the words there is the empty bridge to the next word or phrase. It feels like an invitation to linger there, momentarily free of wandering. Perhaps it is an invitation to notice and embrace the richness in the everyday moment. I hope to pause and listen more to these wordless messages, whether from our nature-kin or ancient poets. Please join me.
Practice
This short practice supports your unspoken understanding.
Prepare –
- Find
a quiet place where you can sit comfortably for a few minutes.
- If in a chair, place the soles of your feet on the floor.
- If you have had a busy day, take a moment and shake out through your arms and legs – one at a time.
Practice –
- Hold your head in your hands. Allow your palms to cover your eyes.
- Invite the muscles around your jaw to release.
- If you feel comfortable, invite an awareness of your sense of being here with yourself.
- Pause here for a few breaths.
- With your head upright and a soft gaze, bring your hands over your ears.
- Invite the muscles around your belly to release.
- If it feels comfortable, listen to the sound of your breathing.
- Pause here for a few breaths.
- With your head upright and a soft gaze, allow the backs of your hands to rest on your thighs.
- Invite the muscles around your forearms, wrists, and hands to release.
- If it feels comfortable, imagine you are sitting in the presence of that which you hold most sacred according to your belief.
- Pause here for a few breaths.
Transition back into your day –
- When you are ready, return to your day.
This poem is translated by Coleman Barks. It appears in Mala of the Heart: 108 Sacred Poems, page 33, edited by Ravi Nathwani and Kate Vogt and published by New World Library. HEARTH is posted each new and full moon. KateVogt©2019.
