How Nothing Works (Part 4)

(You have been practicing the Nothing Technique since we last chatted. Take a few minutes to again do the Nothing Technique and then continue reading.)

I’ll wait…..

Now, first notice how you feel. Is your body more relaxed? Do you feel quieter in your mind? After only 2 to 3 minutes, you are already beginning to reap the benefits of … Doing nothing! You didn’t have to imagine yourself on a tropical beach, sit in a pretzel-like posture and breathe through one nostril, focus your mind on a candle flame or hum a secret sound. Instantly, the moment you switched your awareness from thoughts to nothing, relaxation and inner peace began growing within you. Nothing is the screen onto which your thoughts are projected. As soon as you became aware of just the screen, you left your thoughts behind, didn’t you? The next time you are at the movies, take a moment to become aware of the screen behind the movie. The movie screen is always there, but we rarely pay attention to it. Likewise, nothing is always there behind our thoughts.

When you became aware of nothing, you actually cleared your mind of thought! It did not take years of practice, as many have taught. It took you literally seconds to leave thought behind and become aware of the nothing beyond. If you did nothing else but this simple exercise you would have learned a most powerful meditation, which alone would have a marked impact on your life. But there is more; much, much, much more to come.

Now, let me ask you – what is in that nothing? Crazy question? Nothing is nothing, right? Well, as it turns out there is something in the nothing. The something that is in nothing is awareness. Not awareness of something like the moon or an apple. This awareness is awareness of nothing. This is what I call pure awareness. Pure awareness is the ground state, the basic stuff of all created things. As you are already beginning to find out, becoming aware of pure awareness is a very good thing to do.

Outside Reading: The Ending of Time

Book: When Nothing Works Try Doing Nothing

Audio Download (including The Nothing Technique): Eustillness Techniques