“Meditation is a soundless sonic boom in the silence of the stopped universe.” ~ Robert Rabbin
Contemporary mystic Robert Rabbin speaks with intimate authority about the fundamental nature of being, reality, and essence inThe Explosive Silence of Meditation, a collection of sutras reflecting deep reality: the place of Being itself.
Here’s the Introduction chapter of the book – which will give you a sense of Robert’s unique perspective :
The Explosive Silence of Meditation comprises 49 sutras, terse statements lobbed into the psyche like depth charges, where they silently explode and cause conventional knowledge to implode, leaving a quaking- pulsing-shimmering aftermath of uncontrollable freedom and spontaneity.
Freedom and spontaneity characterize the essential mystery of existence. In this book, I name the freedom and spontaneity of the mystery of existence meditation.
Meditation is commonly thought to be a technique or method of practice, a path to enlightenment or self-realization rooted in some mystical, spiritual, or religious tradition. Meditation is supposed to dissolve our delusional notions about the nature of self and reality. With meditation as a set of steadying training wheels, we are supposed to pedal our way towards the inherent clarity, wisdom, and compassion of our true nature. Meditation thus implies a means of becoming, an action or process that leads from here to there, a catalyst that produces an effect not already in evidence.
In this book, meditation does not refer to a practice, technique, or path. It does not refer to a means. It does not refer to an imagined end or idealized state of consciousness. In this book, meditation refers to the simple fact of existence, whose essence can only be felt in silence though never truly spoken of because it is simply too insanely gargantuan to recount with any precision.
Meditation is a freedom-of-being, in action, for which no practice can prepare us. Meditation is the very fact of life, so immense that only silence can approach. Meditation is existence stripped of sentimentality, at once unruly and ferocious. We exist, don’t we? A meditative life is not timid, ordered, and serene. Yes, there is love and unity and all that, but it’s also very dangerous in there, in the meditative life — very dangerous indeed. It’s a furnace that will incinerate your self-made delusions.
You’ve got to be awake, alert, and ready for anything. If you live in your mind, you will always seek safety and security, finding it in beliefs and dogma, but all the while you will be hiding from life.
The poem, below, is titled Practice in Robert’s book,
Visit Robert’s Teacher’s Page and his website for more insight into this remarkable man’s wisdom and life.
Spiritual practice is a wrecking ball,
a huge swinging fist that smashes
the joists and studs of delusional homes.
Spiritual practice destroys the apartments,
condos and houses of conceptual thinking.
Conceptual thinking is a security system
against reality.
Spiritual practice disarms those belief systems,
throws open the front door and proclaims,
“Reality is welcome here!”
Conceptual thinking invents the pictures,
vases, coffee tables, carpets and couches
that fill our minds.
Spiritual practice throws everything out
and keeps the old clutter from coming back.
Spiritual practice keeps our homes clear
and our minds freshly painted with emptiness.
Spiritual practice drapes our hearts
with reality ...
All spiritual practice is a matter of posture.
If we are leaning too far to the left,
we have to be corrected towards the right.
If we are leaning too far to the right,
we have to be corrected towards the left.
If we are too materialistic, spiritual practice
will lead us into the subtle realms of creation—
opening our eyes and arms to embrace
delicate nuances of being.
What was one-dimensional
will become multidimensional.
If we are too convinced of our own dogma,
spiritual practice will take us into ambiguity,
paradox, parallel universes,
and all manner of confounding realities.
If our hands won’t let go of what we want
spiritual practice will knock our knuckles.
If we are too proud, spiritual practice
will cut off our legs just above the knees.
If we are too silent, we will be made to speak.
If we are too weak, we will be made strong.
If we are too humble, we will be made great.
If we are too mean-spirited, we will be made kind.
If we are too violent, we will be made peaceful.
Meditation is a different kind of posture,
a posture in which no straightening can occur.
Meditation is that posture in which
all the vertebrae of creatures like cosmos, eternity,
infinity, and love are stunningly aligned …
~ Robert Rabbin