listening to the great silence

Dear living,

I’m writing today to say thank you. Because of you, I had the great fortune of meeting and knowing James Kapp. My opportunity to engage with James intensively over his last few years helped preserve and enrich my relationship with you – and still does. Some days my heart aches for him. And I feel his presence and support within me now.

I first encountered the practice of Listening to the Great Silence with James. I can still hear his words inviting me to experience you in different ways:

What if silence is not the absence of sound?

What if silence is that which contains all sound?

What if all sounds originate from, abide within, and return to the Great Silence?

Listen. Listen. Can you hear it? Can you hear the Great Silence?

Come and sit with me. Let’s listen together.

Initially, those invitations undid me. They shook my identity and beliefs in ways that I could barely tolerate the first few times I heard them. These questions evoked internal explorations and experiences that something in me found both terrifying and surprisingly restorative. Engaging in this practice revealed how aspects of me that had seemed so sure and solid for so many years could be unraveled by simply listening differently.

And like a bee to flowers, even decades after being introduced to this practice I find myself coming back to this way of listening throughout each day. I see now that this was one of the many gifts you have given me that makes our continuing relationship possible.

With gratitude,

Ken