So in most meditation instructions that you'll hear here and in most places, the assumption is that

we're learning to quiet our mind, amongst other things, that that's kind of a part of the deal.

And there's usually a shared value to quietness and to stillness and retreats are on silence

and there's a slowing down in a sense that that's you know that's kind of where it's at and you know

we see the statues of the Buddha and in those statues the Buddha is not talking, he's quiet.

He's not moving. We don't see Buddha action figures, right?

And there's this kind of vibe of still, still.

And I know for myself, no matter what is going on in my life, no matter what it is,

when my mind begins to quiet, when I kind of settle a little,

when I pause, there is a sense of coming back to what I value. There's some sense of coming home

to a quality of presence, awakeness, heart that I value. and it comes when my mind quiets.

So I'm going to talk about quietness tonight, and that's a little bit weird to talk about

quietness, but it's not really.

And I'll start with a poem, many of you know, that I just would like to ask kind of a setting of the

field here which is Pablo Naruto's poem he says now we will count to 12 and we will all keep still

for once on the face of the earth, let's not speak in any language.

Let's stop for a second and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines.

We would all be together in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales,

and the men, man-gathering salt, would not look at his hurt hands. Those who prepare

green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade doing nothing.

...