The Value of Silent Knowing

Why is it that some people have amazing revelations and dreams while others do not?

Spiritual Understanding has nothing to do with inner visions, dreams and revelations. They are just one aspect. Some people happen to be visionary or psychedelic and they see things, but they are no more spiritually mature than a person who hasn’t experienced those things. Real spiritual growth has to do with the Inner Consciousness, with your Inner Awareness or recognition of Truth.

It so happens that some people tend towards auditory expression and they hear things. Other people tend towards seeing and they can see dreams, visions, images or light. Others progress by Knowing, which is a silent recognition of the Truth, an inner deepening of their understanding of Reality. Many people progress by Silent Knowing. Their knowledge about themselves and about Reality gets deeper and deeper, and that is just as valid as seeing all kinds of flashes of light and psychedelic phenomena!

This is why we said from the beginning: Do not divide yourself! Do not say, “I’m not hearing a big trumpet blast in my ear so I’m not progressing,” or “I’m not seeing psychedelic lights so I’m not progressing.” That would be splitting the Truth as it expresses Itself to you. Simply accept yourself! The real progress is in Understanding. The real progress is always in that silent Knowledge of the Truth within you, or the Truth about things.

Many people progress by deepening their mental understanding of things. In time the mind will merge into the Self and the Light and they all fuse. The mind, the Self and the Light become a triangle, and you can have all kinds of experiences, revelations, visions and understanding, and they keep mutually reinforcing one another. In the beginning, however, you must not split yourself. If you do, it is the ego within you which is speaking. The ego says, “Wow, what’s wrong with me? Those other guys are having all these wonderful experiences and I’m not having these wonderful experiences, therefore I must not be progressing.” That is an ego- statement. Spiritual Understanding has nothing to do with inner visions, dreams and revelations.

Remember to have no goals. Do you remember? Relinquish all goals, lead a peaceful life, for all goals are but goals of the ego. The Self has no goal or objective. What is essential is that you mature inside in Understanding, and that understanding is the actual breakthrough towards Realization. In time, within that deepening of your understanding, you will have visionary experience, auditory experience, or some sort of sensory experience, and you will begin to feel the Oneness. Even on the physical level you will begin to feel Oneness in life.

Visual, auditory or feeling sensations are not criteria for spiritual progress. They are just things on the way. They are just “Footsteps of the Lord”. So don’t be disheartened, because seventy percent of people make their real spiritual progress without visionary and auditory experiences. Thirty percent of the population tend towards visions and auditory experiences, but these are not the ultimate criteria. If you worry about it too much, then it becomes a problem for the ego, because the ego then says, “I’m not as good as these other people, what’s wrong with me?” Just let it be! Deepen your understanding, and as you practise these methods you will begin to have such experiences. But again, they are neither the goals we seek nor the ultimate meaning of the Path. They are just there.

You have to understand that Spiritual Life has nothing at all to do with psychedelic revelation! In fact, it can be a distraction. Most psychics cannot make any progress towards the Self or the Mind of Light because they are always absorbed in psychedelic revelation. They see shapes, colours and things, and they spend all their time interpreting what they see. Also, many people spend their time trying to interpret their dreams, so wasting a lot of time. In this way, psychedelic revelation can be a burden because it engages the mind in an endless process of interpretation, which also engages the ego. These people tend to get bigger and bigger egos because they think that God has specially chosen them for some special revelation and that they are so special. In most cases the ego really comes into play.

A silent understanding, a silent growth inside you, is much better in the early stages than dazzling displays.

Excerpt for The Magical Mind (Pages 338-339)