Cultivating awareness is an essential discipline for being in the moment. As awareness deepens we become more receptive; we gradually discover the life process and move from the quantified aspects of things to their qualities. We perceive ourselves less as observers and more as integral parts of the process. Awareness leads to the sure knowledge that we are creatures among creatures and that the earth is always aware of our presence. Awareness cannot be realized without solitude and silence. Solitude enables us to become aware of the boundaries of the self, to experience aloneness as a prelude to the experience of at-one-ness. To be silent is to let go of that fear which drowns out every kind of awareness. Silence leads us into mystery. Silence means stilling self-reflexive chatter and adopting an attitude of listening. Listen to the silence of the earth -- it is deafening. Listening to the silence of earth brings us into communion with every separate being -- a blade of grass moving in the breeze, an ant walking across a leaf, the eagle hovering high overhead, water flowing slowly from a hidden spring. One becomes an ear so that all might become music.
Simplicity is a grace given to us by God ... a gift to be graciously received. Simplicity is also a discipline, which involves a consciously chosen course of action in both group and individual life. What we do does not give us simplicity, but it does put us in the place where we can receive it. It sets our lives before God in such a way that we are open to the grace of simplicity. Simplicity and solitude walk hand in hand along with silence. Solitude is the inward unity that frees us from the need for acclaim and approval. Through it we are enabled to be genuinely alone, for the fear of obscurity is gone; and, we are enabled to be genuinely with others, for they no longer control us. The grace of solitude must be rooted deep within if we are to know simplicity of heart.