Page 36 - The New Age Chronicles Newspaper No 1 Vol 1

36 Silence and the Unitive Experience

Silence and the Unitive perceptual gift emerges. intelligence is accustomed and able to deal,
So, if we are going to explore unity towards new powers of perception, which we
Experience consciousness, we simply can’t leave out the never knew we possessed. Instead of sharply

medium in which union emerges. Silence is its perceiving the fragment, we apprehend, yet
medium, as the painter’s medium is color and know not how, the solemn presence of the
the musician’s medium is sound. In the whole. This awareness is balanced by a great
development of unity consciousness, the ongoing sense of expansion, of new worlds
medium is silence, and it is a reservoir to which made ours, as we receive the inflow of its life.
we may endlessly return. There we are This revealed reality is apprehended by way of
privileged to drink as often and deeply as we participation, not by observation. And this
desire. Unity consciousness is indeed an organic experience of the “Whole” seems to be given,
process, and I refer to the phases of development rather than attained.
as The Gathering, The Stillness, and The
Surrender. Respectively, each denotes reaching In withdrawal from the busy, surface
Christina Donnell, Ph.D.
deeper layers of the silence and greater interior consciousness, One sinks down to the ground of
changes. Being and the apparent Universe. Our Being
There is an unseemly coarseness and tumult to
experiences the ‘Substance of All that Is.’
our times which robs the grace from the fabric of
The Gathering Multiplicity is resolved into Unity, a unity with
our interrelatedness. At first, it sounds
which the perceiving self is merged. Here, there
completely naïve to suggest that now might be
The first phase requires quieting the surface is an enhancement of vitality, equanimity, and
the time to embark on the ancient journey from
consciousness – thoughts, images, emotions. It joy.
separation to union, the journey from our own
lifts you to a new level of perception whereby a This incredible eternity is stamped into
Self back to a state of Oneness. Yet that is
new inflow of life is received. the core of our being. When our awareness and
exactly the claim that this article explores. It is a attention can touch here, a different way of
call to a deeper spiritual consciousness, by Silence is a kind of touch. To be fully existing and serving in our world unfolds. The
which awareness becomes ‘centerless’ and the with silence requires that we develop a capacity
to be present to both the subtlest qualities of its Self is lifted to another plane of consciousness
dichotomy of I-Other is transcended.
touch and to the way this touch resonates our and becomes an agent of the Absolute—an
Much of what is noisy about our times is
interiority. When silence announces itself, you energizing center. Sometimes I liken it to a
that we are beholden to surface reality –
have begun to find the way out of separation destiny of incarnating the eternal in time. For
Facebook, Twitter, news feeds, texting, busy
consciousness. It is the most difficult phase, this, we humans are made. One simply needs to
daily life. Abandoning the surface of things
because most of our attention is allocated to bring awareness down into every cell of the
takes something more than curiosity or a need
surface consciousness. body, remain quiet there, and meet the silence.
for depth or solitude. It is to risk being moved –
You cannot understand it. There is only to be it.
moved from the person we were to the person Until you have tasted the degree of this inner
we may become. The Stillness
fulfillment, you hardly dare dream that it is
The development of the unitive
experience (or non-dual awareness) requires us In the second phase, attention passes to a state possible. This fulfillment gets deeper and
deeper, more and more complete; and you know
to abandon surface impressions and patterns, to characterized by intense stillness, in which it with a certainty that is born of experience. We
abandon what has become comfortable and to rests in that reality to which it yet dares not can slip into unity consciousness with the same
embrace a depth of being that asks us to enter surrender. When one comes to this point, the ease as we slip into the seamless embrace of
that which is wholly unknown – the depths and brain becomes very still – yet, it is highly water. Something very ancient, eternal within
dimensions of silence. Silence was here before sensitive, vigorous, fully alive. Will and us, already trusts that this embrace will hold us.
anything else, and it resides inside and around imagination are silenced, bringing a state of The source of these living waters is stamped in
all things. It is the most primary phenomenon in emptiness. In this state of emptiness, there is a the very core of our being. It is the Substance of
existence and is the home of union. sense of a mind that has penetrated its unknown All that Is.
Our body has an innate capacity for depths. The difficult terrain of emptiness is truly
apprehending the Absolute and experiencing the fertile soil of change, yet it is deeply About the Author:
union. There is a palpable silence which is a alarming and hard to trust, because the Christina Donnell, Ph.D. is the Director
substance – textured and layered, permeating conditioning of everything you know so well is of the Winds of Change Association, an
every cell of our body. As we enter the mystery essentially dying into another plane of educational organization dedicated to offering
of silence, its presence resonates throughout the consciousness. programs that tend our evolving consciousness.
fibers of our flesh, extending inwardly, and is The surface mind begins to surrender the Christina is a natural born, pragmatic mystic,
connected to the same silence of the cosmos strings of reality, allowing consciousness to sink spiritual teacher and public speaker. She is the
outwardly. Our body is the necessary meeting into the stillness and silence from which the author of the award-winning book, Transcendent
point where the inward stillness meets up with Absolute appears – where everything is nurtured Dreaming: Stepping Into Our Human Potential.
the immense silence of the cosmos, and the into existence at every moment. These you are Her latest offering is the Unitive Life audio
unitive experience is born. Upon entering the participatory with, within the Silence. series which is a rich foray into silence and the
great layers and folds of the substance of silence, Experiences of passive union begin to occur in emergence of non-dual awareness. Her website:
the infinite appears of its own accord inside the this phase.
www.christinadonnell.com []
body, and consciousness of it may be stabilized,
enriched, and defined. When we find the entry The Surrender
into this vast stillness, our lives are irrevocably
changed and a monumental transition takes In the third phase, one soaks in the silence and
place. energizes oneself on those high levels of energy
I consider the emergence of non-dual from a deeper reality, which are dark to the
awareness an organic development. It is an intellect, but radiant to the heart. It is a
interior process, disclosing what is already manifestation of that indivisible power of a
present inside us, rather than setting out on a different kind of knowing through unity. One
path looking for something new. There is only surrenders into the deepest layers of the silence
attention and its awakening. New capacities and is merged within it. When the larger reality
emerge by developing dimensions of attention appears, it is given to us and we know it, as we
that go beyond usual awareness. Silence must be cannot know it by the ordinary devices of
entered, and one must deeply participate. thought.
Participation in the silence is the remaking of the There is a turning of attention from the
consciousness. From here, the body’s innate world of multiplicity, with which the