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me President Reagan wants one minute's silence in every school, college and institution. The idea is great, but I don't know whether Reagan understands what it means, one minute's silence. He must be meaning simply one minute keeping quiet, not speaking. Not speaking is not silence. You may not be speaking, you may not be uttering anything, but inside a thousand and one thoughts are running. There is a continuous flow of thoughts, day in, day out.
I would like to tell President Reagan first to try one minute's silence. That means for one minute no thought moves on the screen of awareness. It is not easy. It is one of the most difficult things in the world. But it can happen if you continue to try.
And if it happens for one minute, that's enough. If for one minute you can be in a state where no thought moves.... This has been my whole life's work, teaching people how to be silent.
People have tried keeping a watch by their side: not even twenty seconds -- one minute is too big, not even twenty seconds can they remain without thought. One thought after another, running.... And even if they can remain for twenty seconds, the thought comes, "Aha! Twenty seconds!" Finished -- the thought has come.
If you can be silent for one minute, you have learned the art. Then you can be silent for two minutes, because it is the same; the second minute is not different from the first. You can be silent for three minutes; all the minutes are the same.
Once you know the way... and the way is not something which can be told to you; you have to just sit with closed eyes and start watching your thoughts. In the beginning there will be a great rush hour, but slowly you will find the street is less and less crowded; less cars are passing, less thoughts are passing, less people are passing, gaps are becoming bigger. If one continues patiently, in three months' time he will certainly be able to attain one minute's silence.
I don't know if President Reagan has ever tasted it, because any man who can taste silence will not try to be a president of a country, cannot be in politics. It is not for meditators, it is for mediocres. It is for all kinds of
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