The purpose of meditation practice is not enlightenment; it is to pay attention even at unextraordinary times, to be of the present, nothing-but-in-the-present, to bear this mindfulness of now into each event of ordinary life.
...it is in the stillness, in the silence, that the word of God is to be heard. There is no better avenue of approach to this Word than through stillness, through silence. It is to be heard there as it is -- in that unself-consciousness, for when we are aware of nothing, that word is imparted to us and clearly revealed.
~ from MEISTER ECKHART by Meister Eckhart and Raymond B. Blakney with thanks to Fred Cunningham
