TRANSCENDING THE NOISE: Embracing Stillness and Silence for Well-Being

“My experience has shown me that valuing silence and stillness as essential tools for well-being (mental health and happiness) can bring practical benefits, regardless of our stance on dualism in light of modern neuroscience, which suggests that mystical experiences, consciousness, and the mind itself may just exist as a higher function of the brain.”

I recently came across an intriguing passage in the book ‘365 Tao‘ by Deng Meng-Dao, where he discusses the profound meaning of sound and silence. Meng-Dao suggests that by embracing contemplative stillness, we can tap into the subtle aspects of life and free ourselves from the noise of everyday existence. He explains that silence appears not merely as the absence of sound but as sound unified with all its opposites. With our deepest contemplative selves, we can perceive profound sounds and enter a transcendent realm through meditation.

Meng-Dao’s perspective resonates with Yin and Yang, where movement exists within stillness and sound within the silence. He intriguingly posits that the most resonant sound is silence itself and that meditation arises from the meeting of sound and soundlessness.

Now skeptics could easily find Meng-Dao’s ideas abstract, bordering on ‘woo-woo,’ in actuality, my experience has shown me that valuing silence and stillness as essential tools for well-being (mental health and happiness) can bring practical benefits, regardless of our stance on dualism in light of modern neuroscience, which suggests that mystical experiences, consciousness, and the mind itself may just exist as higher function of the brain. Neuroscience doesn’t necessarily disprove or rule out the existence of the transcendent or our inherent sense of interconnectedness with the world and beyond, which we may experience beyond the physical realm of our body and mind.

Ultimately, Meng-Dao’s metaphor of sound offers profound insights into the importance of meditative stillness and silence, despite our resistance to embracing them in our busy lives. These practices have the potential to enrich our well-being and open doors to deeper realms of existence.

Stay inspired and inspirational!