December 15-B, 2022

People talk all the time.
Words do not do it.
Feeling/sensing/intuiting 
instinctively/knowingly 
does it.

The Quakers have it down.

Spending time together quietly
waiting/watching
to see what arises/appears/emerges
from the silence.

That's the way to do it.

Ah, but.
There is a catch,
not even the Quakers are savvy about.

In order for silence to work
as it needs to work,
first, there has to be emptiness.

We have to empty ourselves
of all the noise
we carry with us all of the time.

Our inner noise drowns out our inner wisdom.

Worrying,
fearing,
desiring,
remembering,
planning...

We walk around too preoccupied
with the noise within
to listen to anything.
To hear anything.

Emptiness is the prelude to silence.
The prerequisite to silence.
We cannot hear anything
until we empty ourselves 
of everything.

First, comes emptiness.
Then, comes silence.
Then, comes knowing.

That is the process,
and has been from the beginning.

And no one can do it for us.
We have to do it for ourselves.
And that is the kink in the hose.

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