Sound cannot exist in a vacuum. It might be formulated, but cannot be heard. Atmosphere is needed to carry the vibrations or waves and in effect, give life to sound.
Imagine the full expressive range of a cello: rich, resonant, yearning, commanding, desolate, playful, soaring, sumptuous and satisfying. Now remove the body of the cello so only the strings, fingerboard and tailpiece remain, and imagine the same music being played – there is just a thin sound with no depth, warmth or soul.
Spiritual wisdom, whether written or spoken, is like sound: it requires atmosphere to come to life, to be heard, understood and take effect. It is like music on a cello string: weak and useless without the resonant body of the cello.
Our meditation practice provides the atmosphere which brings to life the words and waves of spiritual wisdom.
Our spiritual heart is the body of the cello, taking the mere sound of spiritual words and elevating them into life-transforming music. The words of spiritual wisdom by themselves are like the thin sound of a lone string: only in a resonant spiritual heart do they blossom, flourish and fly to reveal the clarity, depth, height, glory and significance of their truth, beauty and perfection.
Meditation awakens, deepens and enriches our spiritual heart’s receptivity to spiritual wisdom. Spiritual writings inspire us to meditate; meditation echoes and expands their truth.
Spiritual wisdom needs the spiritual heart as the string needs the body of the cello; the spiritual heart needs meditation as sound needs an atmosphere.
The fuller, busier, more stressed our minds grow, the more they become vacuums, incapable of receiving or relaying spiritual wisdom.
The deepest spiritual wisdom can be found only beyond words, in the silence of meditation, and that wisdom in a word:
Meditate!