On Silence and Stillness (II)
Silence is the prerequisite for inner stillness, and only inner stillness enables us truly to listen to God, to hear His voice, and to commune with Him in the depths of our being. Yet silence and stillness are, like prayer itself, gifts that God can and wants to bestow upon us.
The greatest truth about us is that God has created us with a profound longing, a burning thirst for communion with Himself. We can easily pervert that longing into an idolatrous quest for something other than God. Yet God remains faithful even in our times of apostasy. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, he always awaits our return. Once we begin that journey homeward, through repentance and an ongoing struggle against our most destructive passions, God reaches out to embrace, to forgive and to heal all that is broken, wounded and wasted. He reaches into the very fabric of our life, to restore within us the sublime image in which we were made.
For many people, the virtues of silence and solitude, virtues that lead to stillness or hesychia, should remain the concern only of monastics. With the usual demands on our time and the level of noise pollution we all have to deal with at home, in the streets or at our place of work, these virtues seem to be a luxury we can little afford. Even if we really want to reshape our lives to introduce moments of “sacred time” and “sacred space,” the effort seems to be too much. We are too rushed in the morning, too tired at night, and too busy in between, even to say a few prayers or read a few lines of Scripture. How can we be expected to cultivate silence, solitude and an enduring stillness under such conditions?
The question, unfortunately, is usually rhetorical. It represents an objection and a refusal. Nevertheless, for those who desire it, cultivating those virtues, at least to a modest extent, is very possible. It requires a certain discipline and, at first, a good deal of patience. But little by little, the experience of inner stillness creates a longing for God that is self-perpetuating. Gradually it becomes a necessity in our life, like eating, sleeping or breathing. We cannot exist without it.
That stillness, however, is a gift of grace. We cannot fabricate it, but we can take small steps to open ourselves to it. And to those small steps the Spirit responds in abundance.
~Adapted from the Very Rev. John Breck, Life in Christ, Orthodox Church in America (oca.org), March 01, 2005
“If you attain mystical knowledge and experience the delight that arises from it, no longer will the dark spirit of arrogance be a seduction for you, not even if it should offer you all the kingdoms of the world; for what is there, may I ask, that could possibly surpass the delight of spiritual contemplation?” –Evagrios of Pontus
~From John Anthony McGuckin, The Book of Mystical Chapters: Meditations on the Soul’s Ascent, from the Desert Fathers and other Early Christian Contemplatives
