The Single Note of Being

It's important to cultivate the stillness that arises from a certain kind of inward vibration.

It's easy to talk about silence and stillness; that is one thing. It's a different thing to come in to an intelligent relationship with the vibration of Being.

The word comes from the Latin vibrāre, which means to move rapidly to and fro. 

How does this word, this expression, correspond to my inward experience? 

Isn't that the opposite of all this stillness and silence I'm supposedly cultivating?

My Being begins in a state of vibration. 

Everything within me is in constant, extraordinarily rapid movement. I arise because of the nature of vibration in my atoms, which resolve themselves in the relationships of my molecules. Already, even at this level, the movement senses the need to come into a relationship of stillness: crystalline structures such as DNA are formed. They create a relationship between the eternal vibration of their components, and the need to be still in order to discover a new relationship between one another in structure. Everything moves; but it is the pauses between movement that are inhabited by awareness.

When we speak of a finer energy that we can come into relationship with, it begins here.

My effort to truly be alive centers around sensing the molecular nature of my Being – not just the gross particulars of my manifestation. The human body has an absolutely astonishing capacity to sense in this way, if the physical part of our intelligence is awakened.

Although this vibration is extraordinarily rapid, the consequence of its manifestation in relationship is a stillness. I know this seems paradoxical, yet I experience it directly. I invest in this directly at all times during the day; this stabilizes my inner parts. My outer parts are like an unruly stable filled with animals, and I have to tolerate this barnyard. But my inner parts have an alternative, which is to come under this influence, the underlying and much more powerful stable part of myself.

It’s these roots – which are myriad, very fine tendrils of energy –that connect me to the source of the universe itself. This isn't hyperbole; the whole universe, which I’m a part of, is composed of these molecular vibrations. It's the foundational level of Being, and if I don't come into a more intimate relationship with it, I’m detached from the source of nourishment I need in order to Be. There are countless overtones and undertones, but Being begins with this single note.

So, like the cosmos, my inner universe begins in movement and ends in the stillness that arises as its consequence. I'm able to come into relationship with both of these qualities because awareness makes it possible.

Movement makes the world arise; but stillness receives it. Coming into relationship with both of these qualities in a practical way opens me to potentially receive the sacred feeling-quality which governs both movement and stillness.

May your heart be close to God, 

and God close to your heart.

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.