| | hi pookee,
i enjoy silence a lot in my normal life, to the extent i can get it anyway (what with noisy neighbours, children playing in the yard, water from the radiator, the computer fan and hard drive, klacking keyboard sounds, sounds of breathing, bowels gurgling, other bodily processes, etc). i also enjoy mental silence, finding that i prefer, in general, not having much to think about to having plenty to think about and concern myself with. however, the day to day experience of being among other people and things, in this world of ours, is one that doesn't permit much of either kind of silence in long uninterrupted spells. fortunately though, if your goal is to do insight practice, such exclusive silence is unnecessary.
what i discovered not long before i attained first path is that silence itself is a constructed experience, made of fleeting sense impressions (that imply silence), and that the peace of silence is also a constructed experience, made of fleeting sense impressions (that imply peace). i've since thought to myself at times, 'ah if only i had realised that years ago.' it's not that no one was saying this, of course, as my teachers and some of my friends were wont to say things like 'the silence isnt it, the tranquility isnt it, the peace isnt it' on a regular basis. but what i took that to mean was 'when the world is neither silent nor peaceful, work with that, rather than trying to effect a return to silence and peace'. if only i'd known it also meant 'investigate the silence as its happening, peace as its happening, to see what it really is', it might not have taken me so long.
so when you say that verbalisations 'prevent further progress', you might add that it's not further progress in vipassana that's being prevented, but merely further progress in one's ability to stay in 'the peace of this prison'. is that your goal? |