“… all arises out of silence … and through silence …” ~ Billy Doyle
All arises out of silence and passes through its still heart … so do Billy’s poems—each is a gesture of that same awareness remembering itself.
In these poems, Billy traces the unbroken arc from silence to pure being to immediate presence: he points to silence not as absence but as the homeground from which all arises and returns — the still matrix where the “me” dissolves … and that same silence becomes this consciousness, the only shore, where nothing needs to be attained because there is only this … and the movement completes itself as a quiet reminder that the mind’s thirst for journey and explanation blinds it to what already is — this, here, now. Together, they reveal a single gesture: awareness resting as itself, needing no path, no distance, no becoming.
Billy’s The Mirage of Separation is a collection of brief, meditative poems that return us to this simple knowing. Each piece invites us to see through the illusion of a separate self and rest in the quiet recognition that awareness alone is real.
So, we begin with a poem that turns us toward the source itself — the one that reminds us that silence is not an object to find, but the ground from which everything arises.
And such poems are best received by pausing … reading … pausing again … and seeing what reveals itself 🙂 ….
The Silence
… it is the eternal background … the homeground …
if there is a path to understanding
that path is silence
all arises out of silence
and through silence
we make our journey back
in silence there’s no hold for the mind
all fabrication of the me comes to rest
the words of the sage
are bathed in silence
but we have to let their form dissolve
to let them take us from whence they came
no one can possess silence
it possesses all
silence does not come and go
you do not experience silence
it is not an object
it is the experiencing
silence has no opposite
for all is its expression
it is the eternal background
the homeground
Once silence is known as home, there’s nowhere else to arrive … what was sought as silence is now simply this—being itself …
there is only this
there is no other shore
but this shore
there is no other consciousness
but this consciousness
there is no other enlightenment
but this enlightenment
there is no other to become
but what I am
one step away
and I’m already lost
there is only this
When every other shore dissolves, there’s only this—silence seeing through our eyes …
it is this, here, now
but the mind would prefer
an encyclopaedia about it
than to be with the simplicity
of this message
we don’t want to hear this
we would prefer a journey
with the prospect of miraculous
experiences along the way
and to live forever in hope
than to be with this, here, now
Stay tuned for … other offerings from New Sarum Press …
All italicized text in this post is from Billy’s book and is published here with the publisher New Sarum Press’ generous permission.
And click here for a FREE downloadable copy of the Table of Contents, also made available by the publisher New Sarum Press.
You can purchase the book at Amazon.
And, may you receive the gift of … silence … in your everyday life …
May you remain safe and healthy.
Images (edited & Logo added): 1 & Featured) Beautiful Landscape of Grand Canyon from Desert View Point with the Colorado River visible during dusk by jose1983, 2) The Mirage of Separation cover image from New Sarum Press, 3) UGC 2885 by NASA, ESA, and B. Holwerda (University of Louisville)., 4) The iconic Bells Beach on a summer morning at sunrise near Torquay, Victoria, Australia by filedimage, 5) Charming Stone Village Street at Sunset – Ancient cobblestone street with rustic stone houses, balconies, and potted plants under a dramatic sunset sky. by jmag.foto. All except 2) purchased from 123rf and depositphotos. All are for use only on our website/social channels (these images are not permitted to be shared separate from this post).
