The first time I heard Eckhart speak these words in one of his early public talks something in me recognized the Truth. The heart instantly knew the Truth spoken in these words and LOVED it. I actually wrote the words on a small scrap of paper I found in my wallet so that I wouldn't forget them! It was as if those were the secret words that I had been waiting to hear... waiting for a lifetime.
I've always loved that "G" word and I also know that many are allergic to it. It can conjure up images of some external being ~ an old man with a white beard, for one. I also love the words that are used to replace it ~ Consciousness, Awareness, Presence, the Great Sacred Mystery, Stillness, the One...
Over the course of the years that I sat and listened to Eckhart, each time he spoke that phrase (which wasn't very often!), it was as if I was hearing it for the first time. It had the same kind of impact as the first time ~ the ability to pull me even more deeply into Stillness, into the Truth of who I am.
Several years after that early meeting during one of our phone conversations, Eckhart mentioned a book he had discovered called 365 Nirvana Here and Now and said he would read me a poem from it. He said it has 6 lines...
the first line ~ Be Still and Know that I Am God
the second line ~ Be Still and Know that I Am
the third line ~ Be Still and Know
the fourth line ~ Be Still
the fifth line ~ Be
the sixth line ~
Did you hear the sixth line?!
I had never shared with him (in words) the love of those words, so there was great delight in hearing them and hearing them spoken by him. And what was realized over those years of sitting was that of course it has nothing to do with the words... it's about the space from which the words are spoken. The Stillness that speaks the words. The Stillness that we are. Yes, the words act as great pointers... they do their job; they point directly to the Truth. And that's what was recognized ~ Stillness recognized itself and LOVED it.
BE
STILL
KNOW
I AM
GOD
Congratulations on your new blog, I'm very excited to be able to read your thoughts as I can't attend your talks in person since I'm in Spain. I was in your last seminar in Alicante and I have not been the same ever since. It is as if a weight had been lifted from me, my head actually felt lighter and for the first time in my life feeling numb was a good thing. I thank you and will be sharing the blog with friends.
ReplyDeletewe form masks of thought,
ReplyDeletecome to believe they are real,
forget they are on.
I feel your Presence and everything flows from that, from infinite possibility to possible infinity. Your words are thunder and lightning and the peace after the storm, ever in the Eye.
ReplyDeleteBlog on, dear Moni.