Beginning this coming Friday evening and continuing through all day Saturday, I'll be part of a silent retreat. I am looking forward to this time of peace and quiet...to walk, to think, to pray, to meditate...to be alone in the midst of a group. But when I tell people my plans, they shudder as if I'd just told them I was becoming a cannibal!
For most people, unconsciously, the greatest place of fear is within the stillness of their own minds, away from all activity and thought…just present to the moment and themselves.
You would think itwould be very simple…to sit quietly in a room without a care, worry or thought. However the ego doesn't want us to find that place. The chatter of the mind is how the ego grabs our attention and focus and keeps us from seeing what is real and true. The ego likes to keep people small, running, and locked in their insecurities and doubts. This is what sustains it…gives it life. If people were to begin to practice the art of stillness for just fifteen minutes a day, the ego would no longer have control...we would control the ego.
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, one of the main characters is an alien named Ford Prefect. Many things about earthlings puzzle him, such as the fact that they seem to talk all the time—even if only to repeat the obvious. Over the course of several months, he comes up with a number of theories for this behavior, one of which I found particularly insightful: “If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working.”
Take some time today...quit exercising your lips and let your brain start working! Sit in the silence. Aaah, just breathe.
I'm holding the high watch!
Rev. Donna
For most people, unconsciously, the greatest place of fear is within the stillness of their own minds, away from all activity and thought…just present to the moment and themselves.
You would think itwould be very simple…to sit quietly in a room without a care, worry or thought. However the ego doesn't want us to find that place. The chatter of the mind is how the ego grabs our attention and focus and keeps us from seeing what is real and true. The ego likes to keep people small, running, and locked in their insecurities and doubts. This is what sustains it…gives it life. If people were to begin to practice the art of stillness for just fifteen minutes a day, the ego would no longer have control...we would control the ego.
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, one of the main characters is an alien named Ford Prefect. Many things about earthlings puzzle him, such as the fact that they seem to talk all the time—even if only to repeat the obvious. Over the course of several months, he comes up with a number of theories for this behavior, one of which I found particularly insightful: “If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working.”
Take some time today...quit exercising your lips and let your brain start working! Sit in the silence. Aaah, just breathe.
I'm holding the high watch!
Rev. Donna
2 comments:
Interesting. I just made a piece of art today for a challenge. The challenge was "One day she threw away all her excuses."
The piece I made had a woman on it and in the background I had written all kinds of things that poeple say and that we allow ourselves to hear and elieve that keep us from our dreams. I then painted out most of the words and added random letters on top to symbolize the random chatter that goes on in our minds. (Used I used those exact words!)
Nice to know we were travelling the same mental plain. xo
Lelainia:
I love that...one day she threw away all her excuses!! Wow! What power in doing that.
We DO travel the same mental roads because we are ONE!!
Bless you, dear girl! Big hugs!
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