Yes

Back long ago, before meditation and mindfulness became our paths to salvation, when living in the now was regarded as the of course thing to do, when most folk would have bought Eckhart Tolle a beer and invited him home for supper and a stay, just another brother on the move, I faced down demons.

They were tiny at first, wisps of distortion in the clarity. I had been and was sitting quietly. That's what we called it way back then, if we called it anything at all. Sitting quietly. No posture. No cushion. No straight spine extending through all the chakras into the cosmos. No chakras. No effervescent doctrine of auric splendor. Sitting quietly. In some kind of chair. Didn't matter. Just sitting.

Then they came. Hideous faces contorting, aimed in my direction, growing larger. Some with bodies. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. They were outside of me and coming toward me, their numbers increasing. I was teaching martial arts at the time, working out most every day, so did what was and still is natural. I deepened. Settling more deeply into my center, I heard a whisper at its core. Rather than just listening to the whisper, I became it. "Yes."

It grew in size, doubling, then doubling again in its quiet unassailable strength. Soon the Yes expressed itself in voice, singing aloud in strong sweetness. The demonic energies with faces and bodies began shrinking in size, then disappeared out the window.

The Yes sits with me still.