When you meet another person - whether close or far, familiar or not - do you acknowledge his presence, the reality of his existence, give him your full attention? Or do you reduce this meeting to a means of carrying out your affairs and plans?

When you meet another person - whether close or far, familiar or not - do you acknowledge his presence, the reality of his existence, give him your full attention? Or do you reduce this meeting to a means of carrying out your affairs and plans?

What is the quality of your relationship with a supermarket cashier, parking attendant, repairman, customer?

A moment of attention is enough. When you listen and watch completely, an alert calm emerges. Even if only for two or three seconds, it's enough for something more real to emerge into the light of day than the role you normally play, fully identify with.

For all our functions are part of the conditioned mind. And what the act of listening reveals is not conditional. It is who you are in your essence, hidden under form and name. You are no longer following the scripts of the mind, becoming real. According to the law of correspondence, the same person you meet becomes the same person.

But in fact, there are no others. And you always meet yourself.

Silence speaks

Eckhart Tolle