Once upon a time, there was a traveler who walked through many lands, seeking a treasure he could not name. He had climbed the highest mountains, where the air was thin while the stars felt close enough to touch. He had wandered through cities and villages and spent many hours at the feet of masters, collecting words like rare gems. And by now, he knew it all, but still, his heart never arrived.

One evening, tired from a long day of walking, he arrived at a quiet village in a valley, hidden between two rocky cliffs.

An old lady, sitting at the entrance on a stone, watched him approaching. Her eyes were deep and knowing, and her face held a kindness that made him pause to say hello.

“By the looks of it it seems that you have traveled far,” she said. “What is it you seek?” The traveler hesitated. “To be honest? I don’t know what I am looking for. I have searched for meaning, truth, and something beyond this world. I have learned many techniques and heard many ideas, but none could answer the longing that I carry in my heart.”
The old woman nodded in an understanding way. She looked at him and said: “Then you have been looking in the wrong places.” And she stood up and pointed at a small circle of trees with a stone in the middle. While pointing at it she said, «Sit there…. Be still… Be…”

The traveler frowned. He had climbed mountains and crossed deserts to talk with wise men, how could sitting still between these trees bring him anything new? But something in the woman’s voice was so familiar that it just compelled him to do as she said.

So there he sat. At first, his mind raced around, thinking of all the techniques he had learned, all the things he still had to do today, while in reality, he had nothing to do…

But as time passed by, he felt the sun warming his face, a warm flush of joy started running through his veins, he stopped racing and he started to be, and something new rose.

Beneath the noise of his racing mind and running heart, there was something else, something peaceful and quiet, something steady and familiar.

He found something else than he expected. He found “in being present” a Light that always was there, but that only waited to be noticed.

What he found in silence spoke to him in a wordless manner that he understood as follows:

The thing I seek never was outside of me.
It always is here.
It is only patiently waiting for me to become still enough to see it!”

When he realised this, his inner eye opened so clearly that he could not unsee the light he saw. When he left, he wanted to show his gratitude to the lady; only she had gone, but the silence stayed with him and surrounded him, accompanying him while love overflowed from him.

After this he knew that now his journey had truly begun.

The traveler’s story is the story of every soul that longs for something beyond the fleeting happenings of life.

We search for security in this world by chasing possessions, knowledge and achievements, believing that fulfillment is something to be found outside ourselves.

But sooner or later, we find that real understanding doesn’t come from accumulating new ideas. Real understanding arises from emptiness.

Emptiness or stillness are often misunderstood. Emptiness is not a lack of anything, nor is it a total void. Emptiness is more a clearing that is created to make space for the most radiant force of life.

Our mind, usually filled with its endless string of thoughts, speculations, opinions, and desires, leaves little room for the voice of the Eternal Spirit calling from our heart. It is only when we step out of our constant mental and emotional motions that we allow the silence to take root within us. Only in silence can something totally new emerge that is of a different nature.

Inner silence allows us to discover the workings of the laws of love and truth.
Inner silence knows the mystery of the Real.

The traveler, ceased running after something new and surrendered to stillness. He did not lose anything essential, but he finally discovered that the kingdom is not found in a teaching itself, but in the revelation of that teaching through each one of us, in the present moment.

The outer world often encourages us to keep on running and to keep on seeking and consuming in the illusion that it will make us stronger and find IT some day…

But the path is not some day, it is today. It is lit by the Light of the Spirit-spark while we empty ourselves through self-surrender, by letting be, and by becoming silent enough to be able to see by the Light of the Mystery.

In this silence, the spirit keeps fulfilling us while it nourishes our New Soul in such a way that it unfolds in a new reality.

And so, the traveler’s journey did not end with the end of the story, it had only just begun, in dedicating every moment of the day to keeping the silent undertone alive in the background of his being, to have it always close to access it fully.

We like to close our reflection on Silence with a poem by Kabir, called “The Sound of Silence.

“Have you heard the music no fingers have touched?
The silent song that rises in the heart,
where no strings are plucked,
where no breath is drawn,
yet the melody flows like a river?

Be still, and listen.
The flute is played without lips,
the drum beats without hands.
This is the music of the soul,
the song of the Infinite,
rising from the depths of silence.

You wander far, seeking wisdom,
but the jewel you long for is within.

Stop searching.
Sit in stillness.
Let the silent music carry you home.”