Silence is what we are. When we accept this, we become the sky. The sky is everywhere and nowhere, just as we are when we accept our own silence. Everything appears and disappears within us, within the sky; not the sky we see overhead, but the sky of the cosmos, the breath in which this universe appears. Clouds, planes, flocks of birds, spirals of dream, mountains, worlds upon worlds, space dust, and starlight all appear in the sky without filling the sky. The sky contains everything.
The sky is always patient, never hurrying. Whatever appears within the sky one minute, will disappear the next. The sky is always just the sky, containing everything without effort or striving. The sky does not become what appears within it. Whatever appears, floats in the sky like sea froth on wave, visible but for a moment, than disappearing again, only to reappear on the next wave. To the sky, everything is like this froth, because the sky sees everything appear and yet disappear at the same time. Nothing stays longer than a moment, except the sky. No one knows how long the sky lasts, because it is not of time. It is not of anything. It is simply that in which everything appears and disappears. This is what we are. We are the sky.
Inner scientists and artists of the beautiful and musicians of silence and tenderness say that the sky, the silent sky, though eternally empty, has qualities. The qualities are experienced in absorption, by returning to the truth within us. The truth within us is silence, empty and full. It is empty, because everything that appears, disappears. The sky is always emptying itself. The sky has no hands to hold what appears within it. The sky has no desire, so it has no longing; it has no fear, so it has no anger. It is always emptying, as what appears within it disappears, and so the sky is always returning to fullness.
What are the qualities of silence? Can they be spoken? Can they be known? Or do we become them by returning, in silence, to the sky. After all, we are the sky. What would we be like if everything appeared and disappeared within us? Wouldn't we love everything? Wouldn't we be patient, forgiving, and playful? Wouldn't there be peace within our infinite heart, because there would be nothing to become other than what we already are?
In silence, we become the sky. This is where we find our fullness, our wholeness. To watch everything appear and disappear within us is very beautiful. It is easy to love, because we are so big! We have everything within us!
Looking in, is like looking up. We see the sky and relax. We relax so much, we usually fall asleep. But the falling asleep that happens when we become the silence is the waking up we dream of when we think we are who we aren't.
Look within. We are the sky. We are silence. See that. Be moved by that. Give yourself to that. Let the sky fill you up. Let the silence lead you. Give yourself to that. Peace.