Stillness Speaks Book Previews

Jean Klein: What Is The Living Gift Of Openness and Silence?

by Sanjiv Manifest | Dec 10, 2025

“… Our real nature is openness, silence …” ~ Jean Klein

Ah … the serene beauty of snowfall in winter — a descending hush, a softening of pace, a thinning of light. A tranquility to behold … a stillness that leaves an expansive quiet more spacious than the sky itself.

And in this stillness, silence reveals itself — not distant or rare, but as the ground of being … the ground out of which every moment arises.

This ever-present silence is what Jean Klein points to in many of his gatherings: first as the essence of our being — open, ungraspable, free of all effort — and then as the simple spaciousness in which everything appears … the sky widening above us, the breath moving through us, the quiet that holds the moment without asking anything of it.

In a 1989 gathering in Provence, France, Klein brings these two ways of seeing silence into focus. Silence is revealed as our real nature — an openness in which seeker and sought are not two — and as the “space” that seems to surround us, yet is never really in front or behind, but objectless and everywhere.

The transcript of the gathering is available in Klein’s Transmission of the Flame …

We have been reviewing many such gatherings to explore Jean’s answers to similar questions — practical, everyday concerns. The transcripts of these gatherings are available as a series of his books … all of which we are previewing — via chapter excerpts with our preambles — on an ongoing basis:

… starting with his classic Book of Listening … in a 5-part series … and

… then Living Truth which is ongoing with 2-parts so far … and

… then Who Am I … which is also ongoing with 2-parts so far …

… then Beyond Knowledge … which is ongoing with 1-part so far …

… then Be Who You Are … which is also ongoing with 1-part so far …

… and, more recently The Ease of Being … which is also ongoing with 1-part so far …

So, today, we continue with part 2 of our multi-part series on Transmission of the Flame … following these same two ways of seeing silence: the direct glimpse of our real nature, and the simple recognition that everything we experience quietly refers back to silence. This excerpt brings both into focus through questions like :

… What is our real nature?

… Does everything we see truly refer back to silence?

… Does the experience of space change as we live more this timelessness?

… and more …

All italicized text (except noted otherwise) below is from Transmission of the Flame by Jean Klein and is published here with the publisher New Sarum Press ‘ generous permission. Scroll to the bottom for a free downloadable Table of Contents. You can purchase the book at Amazon.

What is our real nature?

Our real nature is openness, silence. It is revealed in the instantaneous understanding that truth can never be acquired. All that we look for and find is an object. It suddenly becomes clear that the seeker is the sought, that the looker is what he is looking for; then all projection to find something stops. This stopping moment cannot refer to anything other than itself. One can call it an insight, a clear understanding, or as we said yesterday, a geometrical representation of the truth. It brings a completely new orientation.

Yesterday I asked a question about choice. It suddenly came to me that there is no choice, because everywhere I look, everything I see, refers back to the silence. All objects are a reflection of that silence. They are essentially the same.

Yes, different names are given, different forms are given, but they are all the same. There are not two, there is only one.

[…]

Space is stillness. It is a symbol for silence.

Does the experience of space change as you live more this timelessness?

Space is stillness. It is a symbol for silence. When you look at space, become perfectly attuned to it. Be in identity with it. Make it your own experience. There is no subject-object relationship. When there is subject-object relationship, you fix it in front of you. When the subject-object relationship is eliminated, you feel it somehow behind you. But this is only a geometrical representation, a pedagogical device. In reality it is neither behind nor in front, nor left nor right, because it is objectless. I remember Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon saying, “First you must find yourself behind and then later you will also find yourself in front, left and right and up and down.” I think this feeling of being behind is akin to the movement we make when we want a good look at something. We take a few steps backwards to feel and see it more globally.

Stay tuned for more … Jean Klein’s teachings from Transmission of the Flame …

All italicized text (except noted otherwise) above is from Transmission of the Flame by Jean Klein and is published here with the publisher New Sarum Press ‘ generous permission. Scroll to the bottom for a free downloadable Table of Contents. You can purchase the book at Amazon.