SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What does "be still to recognize what is always here" mean to you? How do you cultivate that stillness? Can you share a personal experience of a time when you stopped seeking and found that stillness?
Language is a means, not an end.
In cue why it
eye re-see'v
God's Word
today.
From A Course In Miracles, today's lesson for me coincidentally happens to be Lesson 125. "In quiet I receive God's Word today." I also highlighted, "We will not judge ourselves today, for what we are can not be judged."
a few sniplets i like to share: "BE..............................still and know u r GODDESS/THAT/SUCHNESS"
how do you perceive the world thru a still/thoughtfree mind??? Where is each thought arising from? what is the source of each thought? Instead of being interested in the content of thought, look with couriosiy & ease where each thought is arising from ? NO mental/mind answer has to be given !!!....just rest in the source of each thought and ENJOY !!!
seeking is necessary, just as keeping awake is necessary to see the sunrise. But my my keeping awake does not make the sun to rise. It is a grace given to me when I am open, when i have done my part to dispose myself to the gift of silence
As Yoda once said, "There is no trying young Luke, there is only doing"
When one is trying, they are thinking and planning which distracts from doing.
When one becomes aware they are happy, it diminishes a part of the happiness.
Perhaps your story can be explained by another ancient wisdom;
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win”
â Sun Tzu, The Art of War
From A Course In Miracles- "I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me."
Workbook, Part 1- Review VI, Lessons 201-220
I am struck by the multiple meanings of "still".
"Being still too recognize what is always here" is a pathway to truth. Truth that lives in a presence rather than a figuring out, a realization rather than an inquiry, an experience rather than an understanding. It is not making truth clear, but an allowing, consisting of removal of barriers to the apprehension of the truth, a truth that is always and has always been so, whether we noticed it or not.
Thank you for another pearl of wisdom. Being Still has many gifts; a feeling of calm, peace, quiet. Seeing, REALLY seeing something or even SomeONE in front of you. Hearing more clearly. All sense are heightened, at least in my experience. and the space allows in creativity, solutions. thank you. HUG.
Thanks for this reminder. For me "being still" is quieting the inner dialog, the judgements, the hopes and expectations. (I don't see it as religious, for even that has a name.) I find it walking and while I weave, or am in the presence of animals.
Happiness is right within u. When u look for it outside, it is temporary because it relies on the external world. If God is omnipresent,then why are we so negative win each other. Why is there crime, jealousy etc ? God is one, God is TRUTH. To experience God, we have to be clean and honest. When we r TRUTH, ,we find GOD
Yes! The Bible says: "Be still and know that I am God."
As a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) I value the Meeting for Worship (Quaker meeting) for the stillness it provides. A Quaker meeting creates a space of gathered stillness where we can come together to listen to the promptings of truth and love in our hearts, which we understand as arising from God. Our meetings are based on silence: a silence of waiting and listening.
George Fox, one of the early Quakers wrote in 1658 'Be still and cool in thy mind and spirit from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of God to turn thy mind to the Lord God.'
Quakers believe that each person is unique, precious, a child of God.
Is stillness the absence of movement and a quieting of the mind? Is it possible to find stillness in movement? Is the still point a sort of centering process that allows one to move fluidly while remaining still internally?
It's official, I am an introvert! I need stillness! I seek out "still" places, people and situations. To think and function properly, I have to find time for solitary stillness.
My husband, son and mother in law, temporarily living with us, are more extroverted. They're "charged" personalities, over time, drain me. Their need for volume, motion, television, small talk, togetherness (in my opinion) is excessive. I love them but find myself overwhelmed with their need for my attention.
How do I cultivate stillness? I walk. I go to another room and close the door. I seek nature. I tuck myself into the Spirit of God . . . Beneath His wing . . . Within His Heart.
Like a car needs fuel, I need stillness, to move.
Love this weeks wisdom reading! Thank you for being still with me . . .
Being still is being present and accepting all that is happening, in and around you.
Gangaji in using many negatives confuses and complicates the simple practice.
Just be.
Our incessant desire to satisfy a need leads to our despair and unhappiness. It is okay to reach out for basic needs and perhaps a little bit more for comfort. But the problem is to define this little bit more ... what is its benchmark?. Often we set our needs very high driven by consumerism and materialism, and therein lies our despair and unhappiness. Similarly, in seeking God we want our needs to be fulfilled by God ...often we want God to do miracles for us. When something nice happens when we did not expect it, we say God did it for me. To me this short article is asking us to be still ... still in mind and spirit. Let us still our minds in seeking needs that we don't really need. Let us be still and enjoy the beauties of creation and thus realise the omnipresence of God.
The author is inviting us to be radically, absolutely still prior to seeking happiness, God or any kind of fulfillment for that matter. Is stillness then some sort of ideal state to be achieved as a means to an end? This is what the word ' cultivate' is generally understood to mean. It is not what I understand the author to actually say but rather that stillness is our true nature, not a state to be achieved but a state that naturally emerges once we stop seeking. Neither is he saying how to still the mind, indicating any sort of practice. What he is adamantly saying is just let go the mind, let it be still. Just do it then see what happens. The practice is: Just do it! At least this is how I interpret this brief passage that doesn't say much about the relationship between stillness and perception but just invites us to try out being radically, absolutely still... for a change. Thank you Gangaji.
Amen, Gangaji, Conrad, Susan and David! Grateful for your shared reflections.
~ Stillness (Quiet Confidence) in the security of His Love, Protection and POWER (His Glory) ~ lfm
"Be still simply to recognize what is..., who you are" triggered a memory of moving and living in England when I had to simply be me, including having an American accent. Accepting myself and being the best I could be included not reacting to others' reactions. In that daily exercise, there was some disengagement, a realization of simply being regardless of the immediate environment and stimuli. Being still is related to letting go of the illusion of control. I need to remind myself that what is in others' heads is none of my business and what is in the future is none of my business. My job is to simply be, let go of the past and the future, and just be still. I'm grateful for this reminder.
Occasionally I'll get a brief experience of stopping and finding stillness but it does not last very long. I am reminded of a monk named Thomas Keating who said: "God's first language is silence. All else is a poor translation." Being silent can at times help one be still as being still can help one be silent. when I realized I know very little, I believe I am spiritual and simultaneously mundane. I have changed to the point where I now think the mundane is often spiritual/divine. Trying to be spiritual may at times cause me to not see that we are already spiritual even while being mundane. This can be done without trying. For me the word peace is more primitive than happiness and I think I can be peaceful while not being always happy.. Being at ease is being peaceful. Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Warm and kind regards to everyone and may all beings be at ease.