Revelation and reverence

Meditation can be boiled down to two things: revelation and reverence.

Revelation is not a divine intervention. It’s something much simpler: when we sit still, everything is freely revealed to us. If you shut your eyes now, sights, sounds, thoughts, suffering, peace and irritation all continue to arise.

Revelation means to lay bare or unveil: reality is continually disclosing itself, overflowing from moment to moment without interruption. What’s more, this takes no effort on your part. You couldn’t stop it if you tried.

This is something we very rarely notice, although it is quite outstanding. There is nothing ordinary about a perpetually self-revealing reality.

So in meditation, we slow down to focus on this singular fact. And then we engage with reverence.

Reverence translates as “standing in awe of.” It is the intent to appreciate this ongoing revelation.

It’s like holding a well-made tool in your hand and paying attention to the little details, the textures, the light and the feel.

More than just attending, it has a warm curiosity about it. A welcoming. Wow, look what’s here now! And now!

Reverence requires humility because the revelation doesn’t care what you like or dislike. A raging waterfall doesn’t care about what flows over its lips.

This kind of practice is what Adyashanti calls “true meditation.” It’s not about self-improvement or cultivating a particular state.

But you can experience a deep peace through it. It doesn’t come through manipulating experience. It arrives by giving up your habitual resistance to things, your anti-reverence.

It comes through learning to appreciate the most basic fact of experience: it’s continual, effortless unfolding.