Be still and empty

Be still and empty
God shall fill you
with far greater fullness
than you could ever
wish or will.

Everyday at dawn and often throughout the day

Everyday at dawn and often throughout the day, I go back to the quiet place where my inner Voice strengthens and infuses my speaking voice. Whether my work is with troubled teens who fight at my city's local high school or with rebels in the Philippines, I go to my inner Voice for refuge and support. If I hear, "Be still and know I am God," then, I know that I am centered and ready for partnership with the Spirit.

As long as the soul is not still there can be no vision

As long as the soul is not still there can be no vision, but when stillness has brought us into the presence of God, then another sort of silence, much more absolute, intervenes: the silence of a soul that is not only still and recollected but which is overawed in an act of worship by God's presence.

The cat was much stiller than I

I saw Nuri sitting in meditation so motionless that not even one hair moved. I asked,
"From whom did you learn such deep meditation?"
"I learned it from a cat waiting by a mouse hole.
The cat was much stiller than I.

In silence and stillness God's energy will become yours

When you slow yourself down and emanate peaceful, tranquil thoughts, you actually send the anxiety and stress out of your life. Similarly, when you meditate you bring God's silent love into your present moments. In silence and stillness God's energy will become yours. By slowing your mind and other thoughts, you allow the fastest vibrations of spirit to enter. That faster vibration is one of harmony, love, and peace.

January 1998 (Vol. XI, No. 1)

Gentle blessings to each of you in this new year, dear friends! May you find times in STILLNESS and SILENCE to nurture the Sanctuary within. In this Sacred Space, you can retreat any time to rest and just be.

How cooling is silence!

How cooling is silence! Talk is like the surging sea; silence is like the surface of still water. Silence settles down the disturbed mind to its native calmness. Peace is silence, love is silence, the great Truth is silence. Silence is the cause of all birth. From silence evolves out the varied universe. Silence is the beginning and the end of all things. In the middle state it is all activity, noise, turmoil and the mad rush.

~ Ramdas with thanks to A.W. Brunton
Ramdas stillness

Silence is really vital for the human heart

Silence is really vital for the human heart. You see, the human heart can't live with constant sound or noise. It needs silence in order to heal itself. The only two things that are ultimately required for spiritual homecoming are stillness and silence. If, into your day, you can build little windows of silence and little windows of stillness, you will never lose touch with your deepest voice. You will never lose touch with your most secret belonging. Even though you walk and talk and act in the world, you will never leave the inner, tender home of your own soul.

~ Charles William Golding
Charles William Golding stillness Buy on Amazon

Unless there is a still center

Unless there is a still center
in the middle of the storm ...

Unless a person amidst of all their activities
preserves a secret room in their heart
where they stand alone before God ...

Unless we do this,
we will lose all sense of spiritual direction
and be torn to pieces.

~ Anonymous
Anonymous stillness

In the stillness new possibilities occur

In the stillness, empty spaces occur and new possibilities are searching their way to the surface of the mind. A connection is made, new relationships are formed and new patterns emerge. This process of being still and moving at the same time to something new is the way the experience of metaphoric or creative thinking comes about in our minds.

In this process images that are far apart become connected at a deep emotional level, and we feel a jolt of surprises.

~ from WHEN SILENCE BECOMES SINGING by Helen Kylin
Helen Kylin When Silence Becomes Singing stillness Buy on Amazon

As long as the soul is not still, there can be no vision

As long as the soul is not still, there can be no vision. But when stillness has brought us into the presence of God, then another sort of silence, much more absolute, intervenes: the silence of a soul that is not only still and recollected, but which is overawed in an act of worship by God's presence.

~ from LIVING PRAYER by Anthony Bloom
Anthony Bloom Living Prayer stillness Buy on Amazon

When the mind is still

When the whole consciousness is silent and tranquil, free from all becoming, which is spontaneity, then only does the immeasurable come into being. For, when the mind is still, reality, the indescribably, comes into being. So the mind must be simple, unburdened by belief, by ideation. And when there is stillness, when there is no desire, no longing, when the mind is absolutely quiet with a stillness that is not induced, then reality comes. And when that happens, it is a blessing.

~ from ON GOD by Krishnamurti
Krishnamurti On God stillness Buy on Amazon

You do not find it by travelling, but by standing still

Silence is fruitful only when it leads to interior peace and stillness.

Contemplation is a country whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.

You do not find it by travelling, but by standing still.

~ Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton stillness Buy on Amazon

A directed stillness

Silence is a directed stillness, which receives rather than acts.

~ S. Wendy Beckett
S. Wendy Beckett stillness Buy on Amazon

Through stillness

Understand -- through the stillness,
Act -- out of the stillness,
Conquer -- in the stillness.

In order for the eye to perceive color, it must divest itself of all colors.

~ from MARKINGS by Dag Hammarskjold
Dag Hammarskjold Markings stillness Buy on Amazon

Going deep into the inner stillness

When you don't go deep into the inner stillness, you deprive Me.
~ Gabrielle Bossis, 1936 with thanks to Judith Fraser
Gabrielle Bossis stillness Buy on Amazon

The power that arises simply from sitting still

In the Middle Ages people were well aware of the inexhaustible power that arises simply from sitting still... The inner quiet which arises when the body is motionless and in its best possible form can become the source of transcendental experience. By emptying ourselves of all those matters that normally occupy us, we become receptive to Greater Being. True enlightenment has the effect of so fundamentally affecting and shaking the whole person that they themselves, as well as their total physical existence in the world, is completely transformed.

~ from "On Practicing Tranquility" by Karlfried Graf von Durckheim in Parabola, 1996
Karlfried Graf von Durckheim Parabola stillness

There are islands of stillness

In the tempestuous ocean of time and toil there are islands of stillness where humans may enter the harbor and reclaim their dignity. The sabbath is a designated day -- also a state of mind -- a time of detachment from things, instruments, practical affairs and the hurly-burly of life's struggles. In the sabbath state-of-mind we can seek attachment to the spirit, recapturing the goodness of our essential being.

~ source unknown, with thanks to Frederick Lord
Anonymous stillness

Breathing is one internal function that the conscious mind can control

Breathing is one internal function that the conscious mind can control with comparative ease. The effect of controlled breathing is almost like communication with all conscious parts of one's being saying to them, "Simmer down and listen; there is something beyond the turmoil". It is communication in action that often works when words merely go in one ear and out the other, not even changing the cognitive mind. In essence, the effect is to turn all the elements of our will toward stillness and waiting.

~ from THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE by Morton Kelsey
Morton Kelsey The Other Side Of Silence stillness Buy on Amazon

A stillness descended upon the room

A stillness descended upon the room, and in the heart of that stillness was something beyond the power of mere language to describe. I felt we were being given a glimpse of the underlying unity of all things, and that this harmony -- though no metaphor was adequate to describe that singing silence -- was enfolding us so that we were wholly in tune not only with one another, but with a healing presence at the very centre of our being.

The moment passed, but I thought of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and how they had recognized the stranger in the breaking of the bread.

~ from ABSOLUTE TRUTHS by Susan Howatch
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Stillness amidst action

In the rhythm of each day, may you find silence amidst speech, stillness amidst action, and peace amidst creativity.

~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill stillness

How cooling is silence!

How cooling is silence! Talk is like the surging sea; silence is like the surface of still water. Silence settles down the disturbed mind to its native calmness. Peace is silence, love is silence, the great Truth is silence. Silence is the cause of all birth. From silence evolves out the varied universe. Silence is the beginning and the end of all things. In the middle state it is all activity, noise, turmoil and the mad rush.

Silence is really vital for the human heart

Silence is really vital for the human heart. You see, the human heart can't live with constant sound or noise. It needs silence in order to heal itself. The only two things that are ultimately required for spiritual homecoming are stillness and silence. If, into your day, you can build little windows of silence and little windows of stillness, you will never lose touch with your deepest voice. You will never lose touch with your most secret belonging. Even though you walk and talk and act in the world, you will never leave the inner, tender home of your own soul.

Unless there is a still center

Unless there is a still center
in the middle of the storm ...

Unless a person amidst of all their activities
preserves a secret room in their heart
where they stand alone before God ...

Unless we do this,
we will lose all sense of spiritual direction
and be torn to pieces.

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