It is a great service to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and heal the sick. It is also a great service to show people the silence between their thoughts.
This silence is the unfathomable source of peace. This silence alone soothes the restless craving of the human mind that causes all greed, resentment, and war.
Some say there is no peace without justice. But there is no justice without the fundamental peace of inner silence.
"Above all things, love silence," wrote St. Isaac of Ninevah. "Out of your silence will arise something that will draw you into deeper silence. If you practice this, inexpressible light will dawn upon you."
Shift your attention from thoughts to the silence between them. Let thought subside into the space that contains it, just as a mirage is seen to be part of the empty air. You are not this chatter, you are not these waves of restless thinking. You are the ocean of silence where chitta-vritti, thought waves, arise and subside.
The power of meditation lies not in the effort to replace negative
thoughts with positive thoughts, but in the effortless discovery of the
space between thoughts, around thoughts, and within thoughts - the stillness of space within the mirage. To taste this stillness, this silence, is the first practice of peace making.
Silence, free from thoughts, is your original nature. You do not need to conjure it through religious practices, or achieve it through concentration. And the silence in you is the silence in me, and the silence in the heart of "the enemy." To discover this silence is not to escape from the human condition, but to ground the human condition in its source. You meditate not only for you, but for others.
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