Lester Levenson on the Silent Teachings
(from the talk "Silence, Love and Grace", July 26th, 1966)
I believe that most of us in this room, although everyone of us has been with metaphysics, have not heard much about the so-called “silent teachings”. And yet they are the most powerful, the most effective, and the very best of all teachings. They are the teachings that go on all the time, in spite of our not accepting them, they’re going on just the same. Now they are the teachings are being projected by all the greatest of masters. Every great master, in our concept has been, in truth still is and is sending out the teachings all the time, in silence.
It’s not easy to explain the method, but it’s something like this: a master has the infinite power available to him, and he uses it. A master is able to contact every one one of us 4 billion people on this planet, at the same moment. If a master wanted to, he could even appear in a physical body to 4 billion people individually with 4 billion bodies, and talk to each one, and satisfy the need of that one. A master is one who has no limits. If he can create one body, he can create 4 billion. But he doesn’t do it because first, he’s not being asked. Second, if he did it he would frighten more people than he would help. But with all his infinite power, he is projecting the absolute truth to each and every one of us. He’s projecting his conviction that we are, just like he is, an unlimited being.
And the only way to experience that limitless is in silence. If there’s any sound, if there’s any vision, if there’s anything other than the single One, we are not experiencing the absolute. So the master projects with his power, to each and every one, the truth of what we are. He is at every moment sending that to us. There is no time when he is not doing that. The difficulty lies on our side. We have ourselves closed off to it. We prefer to believe that we are limited bodies, with limited minds. And this is the God-given right that we have.
We have the freedom, and the right, being basically the gods that we are, to choose to be limited. And we have done it for so long a time that we have convinced ourselves that we are. So that the noise that goes on within us, of the limitation, drowns out the highest of these silent teachings that are being sent to us all the time.
So the way to receive this greatest of all teachings is to get quiet. When we get quiet, we begin to feel this highest of teachings. We begin to feel what we call “higher”, more peaceful, happier, we get a feeling of wellbeing. All our problems disappear.
And most of us don’t recognize we are being supported by the great ones every time we move in that direction. Once we experience an assist from a master, we should be convinced of what happened. Very often we get an assist, and we think it’s accidental or just something that happened. The more we recognize the source of it, the more we will receive of the same thing. There isn’t any great master who doesn’t do this. And the more we open to them, the more they come in, the more they establish us in the knowledge of what we are. So to sum it up the greatest of all teachings, is the silent teachings. And the way to them is to get quiet, and receive it, and to recognize that you are receiving it.
One of the practical methods of getting oneself to this place, is the method of silence, of practicing quietude. Of not talking. Especially on your days off. Spend an entire day without talking, or writing. Spend an entire week if possible. But we should try to keep as quiet as we possibly can. The only conversation we should engage in is only that which is necessary to maintain the body, and also, anything pertaining to the path. If we are not talking about the path, or sustaining the body, we are expressing our ego. And each time we express the ego we make it stronger. Keeping quiet does not strengthen the ego, and is therefore an excellent method of growth, that will eventually lead any one of us to get to the place where we are able to receive the very highest of the teachings, these silent teachings.