Rational Thought - AND - Awareness
Rational thought & language (discursive rationality, personal-verbal processing) are essential for science & technology, which in turn give us some power over other people & nature itself. Self-preservation is the overriding concern at this level of consciousness. As useful as this "tool" is, its range is quite narrow & specific. Because we have minimal control over the existential realities of constant change, aging, sickness & death, these cause significant fear, anxiety & suffering if we rely exclusively on this limited & limiting level of consciousness.
We have (some say we are) awareness - a level of consciousness which our rational thought & language cannot comprehend. Yet as awareness, we experience directly, without words or images as intermediaries. Awareness (transpersonal–postsymbolic processing) is love, unity, peace, stillness, silence, joy. At this level, we fully accept ("contain" or "hold") rational thought & language, existential reality, our rational fears & anxieties about it, AND remain at peace.
Meditation practice helps us realize & be awareness. Language can really only point toward this critical dimension of our life:
The opposite of love is not hate, but power. C.S. Lewis
Close the language-door and open the love window. The moon won’t use the door, only the window. Rumi
When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. Dalai Lama
A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. Ingrid Bergman
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend. Martin Luther King Jr
There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. Mother Teresa
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love. Henry Drummond
Stillness is the condition of unselfcentered attention. It is inherently compassionate and agile. Whatever is still is also silent, because it communicates directly and not through the medium of any language. This silence is more vast and more empathic than all the scriptures put together. Fr Laurence Freeman
Discursive to Listening Rationality: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/01/be-quiet-listen-learn.html
Personal–verbal to Transpersonal–postsymbolic Processing: http://www.johnlovas.com/2016/02/beyond-personalverbal-or-discursive.html
