Translated from the German by Mark Doyu Albin
Edited by Doris Hüffer-Schott
Typesetting and Cover design by Marion Musenbichler
Photograph Mario Mantese © by Günther Ciupka
Original Title: Die Kunst des Nicht-Seins
© 2010 Mario Mantese, first published
by Drei Eichen Verlag, D-97762 Hammelburg
Bibliographical Information of the German National Library
This publication is listed in the German National Bibliography of the German National Library; detailed bibliographical information can be accessed under www.dnb.de
ISBN 978-3-7412-3455-2
© 2016 by Mario Mantese
www.mariomantese.com
First Edition in English
Herstellung und Verlag: BoD – Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
Between the stillness of the forest and the silence beyond the stillness is the delicate, fluid passageway where earthly stillness enters into supernatural silence.
Where the crude force of the world ends and endless tenderness begins; here all thoughts fade away.
The awakening one discovers that his true presence began there, where he ceased to exist. Deep peace settles within, when the thinking ego vanishes. It was never more than an illusory layer of mist.
Even the sound of a leaf breaking from a twig has never disturbed the Great Silence. Perfect silence envelopes all of nature in deep serenity. Perfect silence is the nature of the awakening one.
The awakening one listens deeply into the depths of being, and is overwhelmed by the incredible beauty of abundant Spirit.
This immeasurable beauty knows nothing of its beauty, nothing of the light-filled compassion which abides in the Spirit, for there is neither one who knows nor something known.
The bright heart of the awakening one testifies to this supra-personal compassion and beauty without being aware of it, for it is free of any dichotomy or polarity!
Awareness of the consciousness which resides in the body leads beyond the word ‘consciousness’ and into that which was, before the body was born.
The heart of the awakening one rests in the Great Silence; yes, it is the Great Silence itself.
Out of this silence flows care-free being, beauty and delight.
Through a sovereign, commanding ray shining brightly from the awakening one’s heart, souls are gently elevated and integrated into ever-presence. They return to that which they always were, back into the ‘all-soul,’ where no separation exists.
This divine ray shines brighter than a thousand suns, and yet is hidden from human eyes. It is infinitely powerful and penetrates all inner depths and inner worlds. It opens closed hearts, closes old internal chasms, and dissolves all things past and future.
The presence of silence resembles the brilliant glow of a precious sparkling gem. The awakening being, silence itself, expresses the adornment of the Spirit.
See this clearly: the silence that is perceptible to the senses is only a sensory perception of the absence of worldly sound. The sound of thought and the sound of controlled nonthinking belong to earthly stillness, while the Great Silence is beyond earthly stillness. That which is recognized without understanding may be called the Great Silence. The Great Silence never changes, for it is not a thing and not an object. Do not observe the intellectual mind and its activities; be aware of the silence behind it.
The charming gown of nature is only a shadow standing before the abundance of Spirit. The living form cannot come into existence through its own power, for it is, in reality, hollow and empty. The life-granting power, the light behind the shadow, is the source of all vitality.
The Great Silence is not disturbed by the chirping of the small cricket. The sweet mating call which intently urges earthly creatures to union is embedded in all living beings. This small glowing flame contains nature’s compelling mandate to couple, and serves to preserve the species.
In rose-tinted dream-states and pulsating infatuation, humans and animals alike are swayed into mayhem. Along their paths towards the ultimate act of pleasure humans and animals are remarkably purposeful and creative.
Those in love swim in a stormy sea of hormones and play out the roles of their lives. Whether it is the cricket or the human being, the mating desire has the same color, the same sound.
Roving ambitions are restless, but when these tenacious struggles gradually weaken, the human being is engulfed by a deep silence. Free from greed, one is transformed, and experiences beauty, joy, and contentment. The awakening one is free from identification with the body and lives detached from earthly pains and pleasures.
Celestial powers breed serenity; nature’s powers generate turbulence. Nature’s powers are like shadows cast over celestial powers. The awakening one who avails himself completely to celestial powers realizes Totality, which is free of adversity.
Sound and the soundless are like two voices ringing out in the shadowy world of ‘I’. The divine mystery of eternal presence is entirely beyond the known, beyond the ‘I”s ordered and organized life, beyond all dualities.
The fervor to move forward through life carves the All-One into countless pieces. Therefore, abide within, restless one, and let what is fragmented flow back together and unify once more. The repose of non-doing is in accord with the Great Silence.
The growth of all that is transitory takes place outside of the Great Silence. Indeed, the animated and the fated never touch the Great Silence. The ephemeral does not know the enduring. Shadow knows nothing of light!
To leave the body behind is like casting off an old dream. The dream was never an effigy of the Eternal, for what is breakable and ephemeral doesn’t know the Eternal, and never touches what is unborn and formless.
The shadowed, bulky substance of the broad universe never originated in the Great Silence; the formed never had any share of the Formless and the known never had any share of the Unknowable.
In the awakening one, the ever-extending horizons of the personal, projected being flow back into the Great Silence, into non-being. The time of estrangement comes to an end. The overlying skins die, but the awakening one is untouched by this, for he has realized that which never dies. Nothing ever turned into anything else; silence never turned into sound.
Investigation, the search for answers, brought no peace. Absorption in delusion brought only suffering. Awakening means to see completely see through what produces suffering and delusion. This awareness is the way out of the labyrinth of the ‘I’.
The Untouchable was never touched, and the Unmoving has never moved. Silence is the home of the awakening one.
No activity within – that is the Great Silence, the all-encompassing, ever-present divine power within the universe. The awakening one lives in the world without ever touching it.
The affirmation of the earthly corresponds to the needs of the earthly. Through these subjective affirmations, a fictitious inner synchronization of the unreal with the unreal in the unreal, is produced.