“Silence is golden” acknowledges the spiritual reality that is uncovered and discovered in silence. The silence that is golden is not the absence of sound, for sound can actually bring us into Essence, but the absence of mental noise, which often spills out through people's mouths as chatter. In those rare moments when the mind is quiet, the golden radiance of Essence can be experienced subtly. The world looks and feels different when the mental chatter has ceased and the silent stillness of our true nature is experienced. Then experiencing life purely without the filter of the mind is possible. When that happens, life takes on a beautiful and peaceful subtle radiance.

The absence of egoic thought allows for the quiet Presence that we are to be experienced. Thoughts are noisy, whether they are inside our head or expressed. Thoughts attract and demand our attention, pulling it away from what's real and true about life. Thoughts are manufactured by the ego and reflect its values. They demand this and that from life, complain, fuss, and fume. All this negativity is hard to ignore. Our thoughts give us the impression that there's a problem we need to do something about. Like a screaming child, the egoic mind is difficult to ignore and silence. It seems that attending to it is the way to silence it, but the opposite is true. Getting involved with those thoughts only keeps the noise going.

When we are identified with our thoughts, we are agitated, contracted, and ill at ease. But once you realize that there is a silent Watcher who is disengaged from them and resting in silence apart from them, you can begin to tap into the potential of your true nature for peace. You are this Watcher, not the chattering mind. You have a mind, but you are not the mind. You are the space in which thoughts appear. That space is silent, all-encompassing, embracing, and allowing. It receives and allows everything that is happening without being touched by it. You are that silent, yet deeply rich and infinite, space. The space becomes filled with chatter at times, but the space remains the same: pure, unblemished, and unchanged.

When you put your attention on that space or on the silence in between your thoughts, you fall into the spaciousness of your Being. You become it, if even for just a brief second. The more you notice that space, the more familiar with it you become, and the more you are able to see the truth about it—that it is who you are. That silent, all-accepting, conscious space is what everyone and everything else emanate from. Consciousness is what you are.

You are not the petty voice of the ego. Our true self is hidden from us by the false one. Waking up to the truth only requires accepting the possibility that you are far grander than you have ever imagined. You are not any of your self-images, but beyond all images and all thoughts. You are the space in which thought emerges and the space in between the thoughts. The silence in between thoughts is golden because, like gold, it is precious, pure, eternal, and true, unlike thoughts. By simply putting your attention on silence, you become it: Everything stills, and there you are!

From Living in the Now: How to Live as the Spiritual Being That You Are by Gina Lake. Read more excerpts and find out more about Living in the Now.