' Harmonization '...

In every retreat that I hold, I can feel the minute that the retreat as a whole— certain individuals before, certain individuals after—starts to harmonize spirit and matter. When it clicks, some people get happy and some people get scared because it gets more powerful. This harmonization is the reason it's been said that, if you want to wake up, you need to hang around awakened beings.

It can be awakened human beings, awakened trees, awakened mountains, awakened rivers—it can be any environment. If we are sensitive, we can feel when environments are awakened. Human beings can be more or less awakened. So can trees or a mountain, canyon, hilltop, or a particular street corner in our neighborhood. When we are sensitive, we can feel these things. When we expose ourselves to that awakeness, to that environment where spirit and matter are harmonized, it helps us awaken.

Ultimately, that's what satsang is. That's also what meditation really is. We are exposing ourselves, and then, quite naturally, spirit and matter harmonize. All of a sudden it just clicks, without you doing anything. The less you do the better.

When we relax and allow this natural harmonization, there is a deep awakening to the beauty of our environment, just as it is, and to the beauty of our own selves. That's the Middle Way, but it's not really in the middle, it's all encompassing. This subtle influence can be very strong. It's sneaky, like mist seeping into the cracks and the crevices of our lives. It doesn't like to announce itself with fanfare.


- Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing