The Stillness Solution

I spent a lot of time in my early adult years read­ing self-help and life-management books. There were some bits of wis­dom gleaned from the expe­ri­ence. It was bet­ter than just frit­ter­ing my time away I guess. After a while, the books seemed to be say­ing the same thing. Most wis­dom is gleaned from very few prin­ci­ples. Over and over again, it kept com­ing back to still­ness — the one ele­ment most absent in con­tem­po­rary life.

“Busy” is the term we use to jus­tify our exis­tence. Work-a-holism has gone from being a life-draining social prob­lem to becom­ing a mod­ern day god. Pity the soc­cer mom as she runs from one activ­ity to another — fran­tic that all of her expec­ta­tions will not be accom­plished. Grieve for the over-worked man try­ing to pay all of the bills. The more still­ness is aban­doned, the more neu­rotic the cul­ture. Every­thing becomes per­son­al­ized. We are in a blurred mix in which we have lost our­selves. Con­trol bat­tles are but symp­toms of a loss of the inner self.

I dis­cov­ered my sense of true still­ness in a ZZ Top rock con­cert a num­ber of years ago. With all of the chaos on the out­side, I was able to hear that still small voice within. It reap­pears in other intense set­tings. (They say that sky­div­ing cre­ates the same aware­ness — and other “on the edge” activ­i­ties too I am sure). The voice is always there, if you are will­ing to go beneath the lay­ers of men­tal noise to hear it. Once you get used to hear­ing it, you find the guide that can take you through any ordeal.

I am sure Jesus found it in his many hours alone in prayer and even while he was asleep in a lit­tle fish­ing boat dur­ing a storm. There are many ways of des­ig­nat­ing it. It is beyond any descrip­tors. The Spirit that dwells deep within can never be fooled or fully ana­lyzed. It con­soles, affirms, inspires, for­gives, and serves as the best friend you will ever have.

The solu­tion is not on the shelf, it is right there inside of you wait­ing to be heard.