A Quiet Revolution

A quiet revolution: 

it's the most transformational of prayers, an interior technology by design it seems, the prayer of Saint Francis offers deep wisdom that's absorbed by the soul and brought active to our lives. My first committed meditation practice was Passage Meditation, a contemplative method as advocated by Eknath Easwaran, an Indian scholar of English Literature teaching at Berkeley. He recommend memorizing a passage from a rich spiritual source and using that as the focus for training the mind, developing concentration and one-pointed attention, but more, absorbing the words deeply to the point that their wisdom becomes displayed through our daily actions. It's a beautiful method of meditation, and the words he first offers for this practice is the Prayer of Saint Francis. 

what I love about this is the promise of transformation, not by effort or a plan of self realization, but simply having these words absorbed so deeply that they're an actual expression of who we most truly are. Really, it seems we're not transformed so much as we are revealed, our inner light brought to surface and now allowed to shine to the world. I believe other forms of meditation offer this as well, but Passage Meditation is specific to this purpose and the Prayer of Saint Francis is a powerful tool for this design, a means of reaching a deep and meaningful silence that reveals the highest qualities of who we are. Even the first few words, asking to be made an instrument of peace, seem vital to these times, and if quietly absorbed, are enough to cause a lasting transformation. 

here's the real gift of meditation, or at least how it applies to how we relate to others, our relationships, both most intimate and the ones of a casual nature - with practice, we begin to see through our stories, no longer held captive by beliefs that we've inherited from others, we gain a sense of true freedom through the deep silence of our practice. And it seems that we're in desperate need of this silence, that some type of transformation must occur for us to find a peaceful world. Something needs to reach across the tight boundaries of our opinions and beliefs, the rigid systems of politics and religion. So what's called for then is a quiet revolution, an inner transformation that changes the way we see the world. Meditation is a tool for this to transformation, a means for this quiet revolution to unfold, one way, not the only, but it's our personal beginning for such a change to actually happen. 

is this change truly possible? 

I don't know, my own life has undergone a quiet revolution, how I see the world has changed dramatically, my stories and beliefs are held more lightly now, and I'm less reactive to their being challenged. It's a start, I'm beginning to be the change I wish to see in the world. 

it's my own quiet revolution. 

~

Peace, Eric