Evolution of love

A SHIFT INTO SILENCE

A SHIFT INTO SILENCE


As if it existed prior to everything I thought I was, prior even to what I see, feel and think. It is as if a seeing has taken hold within me. This seeing observes that this thing is both much stronger and much gentler than anything that could possibly exist, than anything I thought I was, than anything that can be thought or imagined. So once I recognized that, once I saw how I was at ease with that, I completely abandoned myself to it. As if I no longer existed as an individual, like I did before. As if something of myself had ended; as if this thing had a sudden power such that it was guiding me, as it guides me now. As if the individual, the ego, had ceased reconstructing itself from moment to moment.

Of course we all think we make decisions, that we’ve decided to do this, go there, do that – I used to believe it too. But since this happened I am profoundly sure that is not the case. I am sure that this thing exists prior to the three states, prior to the sense of I/me as well. It is what enables all that to appear, to take place. It is more than a vision. There’s no arguing about it. It’s a deep feeling, something that is so strong, that if in the moment, I only see what everyone else sees – a sofa, a table, someone sitting opposite me – this vision is there even before that. And it is so strong that it takes the place of what my eyes and other senses seem to tell me. The eyes seeing, the ears hearing, the skin feeling, are no longer used to define reality. For on a profound level, this thing is there before everything else, all the time, every single moment. It is there prior to all phenomena, prior to all the experiences that made up my existence in the past. Or, if I try to say it in another way, phenomena are seen, as it were, from this thing which is in the foreground; and everything I see, hear or sense in any way appears in the background. Even what I see with my eyes closed, which is so much more real than ordinary reality.

~ Yolande Duran-Serrano

In 2003, and as a result of a spontaneous awakening, Yolande quits her career and her lifestyle to devote herself to the observation of the silence/presence she speaks of. She currently shares her experience and her point of view in gatherings and retreats all over the world:

"The whole problem arises from the belief that we are this person. Silence is our true source and is natural in every one of us"