Hear Yourself: How to Find Peace in a Noisy World

I am Grateful and Blessed to come across this beautiful simple yet powerful philosophy of Life... Namaste and Thank You Guru Prem Rawat.

The words of Prem Rawat provide me with a way to focus on what is important. He says to use thinking but also the other tool we have called feeling. I am a very analytical person, and to know that I can also trust my feelings (I don't mean emotions), then that perspective has helped me trust myself more and relax in this life. I highly recommend this book because there are so many sentences of wisdom in the book provided such as how to be grateful for the simple things in life but mostly life itself. I have struggled for years trying to feel gratitude with all of the negative things that happen in this world, yet Prem's words remind me to appreciate every moment that I can. Prem's words provide me with a treat to know that I can enjoy life the way it was made to be lived, in contentment and joy.

Reading it the first time was a great comfort. Yes, "rough times" will come. But when thinking keeps me awake, I put my tablet in night mode. Comfort returns. And I sleep. Just recently, Mr. Rawat spoke in Montreal about two monks (Zen?) walking together. They come upon a flag pole with a waving flag. One says, "Look, the flag is moving." The other says, "No it isn't. It's the wind that's moving, which causes the flag to move." An argument ensues. Into the story comes a wise man. "Both of you are wrong," he says. "What's moving is your mind." After letting this sit for a moment, Mr. Rawat continues. To paraphrase him based on some reading I've been doing of the physicist and psychologist of perception, J. J. Koenderink-- The sensations of light transform into perceptions of flag and wind, which move the brain and mind. A network of relations that Koenderink calls a "user interface" covers the Universe as it is. We no longer experience the Universe-- and ourselves-- in innocence, seeing these things as they are just of themselves. Physical laws don't need "flags" and "wind" to operate the Universe. Such laws are written using particles and fields. Then how does Koenderink's "user interface" of flags and wind come about? Another paraphrase: The logician and student of mathematical, natural, and computer languages-- the late Jon Barwise-- put it this way. (It's Helen Keller's story of the well house, from his book "The Situation in Logic.") Helen and Anne are at the well house. Someone is pumping water onto Helen's hand as Anne scribbles with her finger "w-a-t-e-r" onto Helen's other hand. Suddenly, the network of relations comes alive in Helen's mind. In her brain, a region of neurons associated with one hand is connected by her superior colliculus to another region of neurons associated with her other hand. Koenderink's "user interface" lights up. For the first time, Helen experiences the network of language and thought relations. Anne is telling her that the wonderful, cool fluid flowing over her hand is "w-a-t-e-r." Now water for Helen at the well house becomes like the flag and wind in Mr. Rawat's tory. Although there are many wonderful occasions for Helen in the future, the network activation of her "user interface" has taken away Helen's "innocence." From now on, she will find it difficult ever to experience water just as it is, of itself, without her user interface standing in-between. So the wise man in Mr. Rawat's story must be seeing something else-- something other than the flag and wind. He must be seeing the Universe as it is, without the "user interface." He mus be seeing himself without the "user interface." (Poor monks in the story. All they can see is "the user interface.") I must read this book again