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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate
Registered: 09/20/05
Posts: 8,775
Last seen: 6 days, 13 hours
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Vow of Silence
#5962895 - 08/14/06 02:11 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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Has anyone here ever taken a vow of silence as part of her or his spiritual path, or does anyone here have close friends or family members who have done so? I'm interested in the practice, and would like to see what others' experiences have been like, what people have gleaned from it, etc.
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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thatiAM
Stranger
Registered: 06/14/06
Posts: 1,250
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Re: Vow of Silence [Re: Lion]
#5963246 - 08/14/06 04:06 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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I rarely talk. I recommend silence in the morning for a few hours before you try to do days without talking. I have probably not gone a day without saying anything, but I have spent weeks before saying practically nothing "Hi. Thanks" daily.
A vocal silence is good, mental vow of silence is more effective spiritually for me personally. I can be vocally silent and still thinking unnecessarily.
Don't force thoughts away, just don't pursue lines of thought. Only entertain thoughts of the divine. In time, success will come Practice.
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Fractalated
There's no onehome up there...
Registered: 07/22/06
Posts: 640
Last seen: 17 years, 5 months
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Re: Vow of Silence [Re: Lion]
#5963304 - 08/14/06 04:26 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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Yeah, I've considered it. I'd say just be practical about it. Don't take a vow of silence for a day when you have to give some long speech or presentation. And probably tell your friends/family about it so they don't get weirded out.
-------------------- "Now that the principalities and the powers stockpile weapons of mass destruction, contaminate the earth with their feverish industry, release floods of images to trigger insatiable desires, treat animals and humans as commodities and functions of a market, the devil must be grinning from ear to ear."
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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate
Registered: 09/20/05
Posts: 8,775
Last seen: 6 days, 13 hours
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Re: Vow of Silence [Re: thatiAM]
#5963539 - 08/14/06 05:40 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
thatiAM said: I rarely talk. I recommend silence in the morning for a few hours before you try to do days without talking. I have probably not gone a day without saying anything, but I have spent weeks before saying practically nothing "Hi. Thanks" daily.
A vocal silence is good, mental vow of silence is more effective spiritually for me personally. I can be vocally silent and still thinking unnecessarily.
Don't force thoughts away, just don't pursue lines of thought. Only entertain thoughts of the divine. In time, success will come Practice.
This is really good advice, I think. I have a lot of trouble turning off my verbal thought processes, and sometimes I think it holds me back. Once, after a powerful acid trip, I went 3 days without really thinking in words. I saw myself and everyone and everything around me as facets of God's personality, and was humbled. I have since been constantly searching for a way to return to that state permanently (i.e. without psychedelic intervention); I know I need to just let my thoughts rest in the divine -- but it's hard, man!!!
P.S. I asked for and received the packet from Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj that you recommended in another thread. Wonderful!
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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thatiAM
Stranger
Registered: 06/14/06
Posts: 1,250
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Re: Vow of Silence [Re: Lion]
#5963562 - 08/14/06 05:53 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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Cool! Do the meditation daily
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laughingdog
Stranger
Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,829
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Re: Vow of Silence [Re: thatiAM]
#5966884 - 08/15/06 05:28 PM (17 years, 7 months ago) |
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birds are caught with nets men are ensnared by their tongues
from a fortune cookie.
+ + + + + + + +
those who speak do not know those who know do not speak
source ? ? ?
if only silence would make us so "wise"...or at least favour us with a sense of "progress". Unfortunately if you are like me most of the voices are 'inside' 'my/your' OWN 'head'. Fortunately noticing this may be the begining of 'waking - up'
In any case, meditation and noticing the sound of silence, from time to time, are free...
and of course here we are hoping to dialouge ! ? ! ... Ha Ha of course laughter itslef is not talking HA
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laughingdog
Stranger
Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,829
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....Anything that conciously places moment to moment attention within the body, or directly in contact with sensory experience* may be a bridge between ....
"everyday" habitual modes of attention, which mix inner verbal commentary, with action... and slightly greater clarity, as the two strands of experience begin to be disected, from one another...
....and also a 2nd bridge to meditation...where thoughts may-be significantly slowed down...and identification with them further reduced...
..* examples might be practices like Tai Chi Chuan, Yoga asanas, or conciously lenghthening the breath...etc.
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sleepy
zZzZzZzZz
Registered: 01/17/05
Posts: 3,888
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Quote:
laughingdog said: birds are caught with nets men are ensnared by their tongues
from a fortune cookie.
+ + + + + + + +
those who speak do not know those who know do not speak
Lao Tsu - Tao Te Ching (pronounced dao de jching/ching/zheeng, sort of a long j, cant really spell it. z and j plus the c/k sound is half silent. when i say it anyway lol.
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