In regard to the practice of simply being with nothing to occupy yourself with, I read this great quote in Abhishiktananda's book titled Prayer:
Indeed, since we are so constituted that it is well high impossible to achieve any goal without special discipline, it is advisable to fix certain days or certain times when, free from any obligation, including even vocal prayer and common worship, we are content simply to be, with our gaze turned inwards and our ears attuned to inner silence, attending to one thing only, that God is.
As I mentioned yesterday, this week has been in silence at the monastery. The daily prayers have been reduced to three and work times are cancelled. That has left a lot of time to fill. There is only so much reading and meditating that I can do at a time. This put me into a position where I asked Mother what she expected me to do with all this time. That is when the practicality of this having no occupation began to make sense. I sat in a chair in my room and did nothing. I did not think about anything but simply went inside myself to sense what it was to be alive. I have to say there is an inexplicable joy that arises in doing that successfully. The important thing is to stop the analyzing and forming of thoughts about things. There is enough in the moment to keep the mind silent.
Indeed, since we are so constituted that it is well high impossible to achieve any goal without special discipline, it is advisable to fix certain days or certain times when, free from any obligation, including even vocal prayer and common worship, we are content simply to be, with our gaze turned inwards and our ears attuned to inner silence, attending to one thing only, that God is.
As I mentioned yesterday, this week has been in silence at the monastery. The daily prayers have been reduced to three and work times are cancelled. That has left a lot of time to fill. There is only so much reading and meditating that I can do at a time. This put me into a position where I asked Mother what she expected me to do with all this time. That is when the practicality of this having no occupation began to make sense. I sat in a chair in my room and did nothing. I did not think about anything but simply went inside myself to sense what it was to be alive. I have to say there is an inexplicable joy that arises in doing that successfully. The important thing is to stop the analyzing and forming of thoughts about things. There is enough in the moment to keep the mind silent.
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