Category: meditation

The touch of experience (3)

(📩700 words, a ten-minute read, final part) (Note: due to a technical error, Part Two of The Touch of Experience did not publish on Sun in Gemini, though it did on The Silent Eye. There is a link at the end of this post if the reader would like to read the full set of three, in sequence. Apologies) In Part Two, the ‘Apple’ … Read More The touch of experience (3)

In the world but not of it (2) : Holes in the Soul

It has been a thing of joy to me that most of the writers and teachers who have a desire to communicate the ‘mysteries’ of the human soul use the same language to describe the innermost nature of it. The word ‘Essence’ is often used to describe this living ‘jewel’ that is our most fundamental identity – though a more liquid, honey-like metaphor might … Read More In the world but not of it (2) : Holes in the Soul

In the world but not of it (1)

There is a famous phrase, attributed to the Sufi tradition: Be in the world but not of it… The sentiment refers to how an individual views their life, and also how they orientate themselves to their experiences. We seldom view experiences as being a living dimension of life. We view them as random events; our task being to navigate around them well – not … Read More In the world but not of it (1)

Shells from an Inner Sea (3 of 3): the inner flow

When we find that the process of inner inquiry described in the last two posts actually works, and we see that ‘finding out’ things about our inner lives is both simple and replicable, we might wonder why and how this mysterious technique works so well? What mechanism makes this seeming conversation with our experience and its storehouse of memory so powerful? Hang on tight, … Read More Shells from an Inner Sea (3 of 3): the inner flow

Shells from an Inner Sea (2) A fresh look at the ‘now’

We are urged by spiritual writers to ‘live in the now’. We might reasonably ask how we might live anywhen else, but that would go against the spirit of such good advice. Some clarity might be needed, though. As far as a reasonable self-inquiry goes, we – our composite consciousness – lives pressed up against signals from our senses that are very much of … Read More Shells from an Inner Sea (2) A fresh look at the ‘now’

Emotional journey of the Deep-Me (Part 1)

The spiritual quest is simple: we need to: (1) Recognise that, in our present ‘state of mind’ we are not as we could be. (2) Begin to follow those ‘inklings’ within us to a new ‘Kingdom-Queendom of me’. (3) Keep our eyes – and minds – open for clues that may provide simple or substantial course-corrections. (4) Observe everything as though the end of … Read More Emotional journey of the Deep-Me (Part 1)

To Boldly Glow…

We’d like to thank Stuart France for his decade of insightful contributions to the Silent Eye, his companionship, and the depth of his historical spiritual knowledge. We will miss him, very much, and wish him well in his future work. And now we have to move on… Deeper into cyberspace may not the only place we glow.  The world is changing, and we must, … Read More To Boldly Glow…

Age and the Inner Life

How old are we? It’s often a cruel question and we wrestle with the answer, knowing full well how many years downstream we are … but feeling, not too deep inside, that our inner state bears no relation to that set of two digits… Traditionally, this has been dismissed as just part of our psychology. We don’t want to feel old, so we learn … Read More Age and the Inner Life

Embrace of the Inner Age

There are many symmetries in life but one of the least remarked on is the complementary states of early and later life relative to where we place our attention. When young, despite ‘trailing clouds of glory’, as Wordsworth elegantly wrote, we are completely in-volved with the physical world ‘out-there’. From the wonder and adoration of our baby state, through the realisation that we can … Read More Embrace of the Inner Age

Mind – mover of the Soul (4) Where is the World?

Where is the world? Is this a fair question to ask ourselves or some pointless intellectual game? A friend sent me a beautiful piece of writing, created by a Kabbalist teacher. The Kabbalah is a system I’m very familiar with, though the Silent Eye uses the enneagram as a map of egoic and spiritual consciousness, rather than the Tree of Life used by the … Read More Mind – mover of the Soul (4) Where is the World?

Mind – mover of the Soul (3) Seeing Pi and finding your birthday…

One of the most important things we do with our minds is to learn, yet we seldom ask: how do we learn things, and is it a single process? How do we learn things, and is it a single process? How do we learn things? We have to be careful to define what we mean by learning. The child or young student gains praise … Read More Mind – mover of the Soul (3) Seeing Pi and finding your birthday…

Mind: mover of the Soul (2)

The consideration of mind is a journey, not a concept. There’s nothing theoretical about the degree to which we believe we are ‘in-here’ in our body. That statement has two parts: the sense of us -the observer, being contained inside something, and the inherent idea of ‘self’ in the status of the observer. To the mind, the observer self-evidently is… The place where she/he … Read More Mind: mover of the Soul (2)