Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Strategic Monk

Home
Contemplative
Listening to Sacred Stillness: When Stillness Listens to Us

Listening to Sacred Stillness: When Stillness Listens to Us

Last updated on: August 6, 2019 at 3:29 am by Greg Richardson

Listening to Sacred Stillness: When Stillness Listens to Us 2019-08-06T03:29:06-08:00 Greg Richardson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When Stillness Listens to Us

Many of us who practice listening to sacred stillness rely on stillness to teach us how to listen.

We slow down and become more open to what is sacred as we listen to stillness. Some of us learn techniques to help us settle into sacred stillness.

We need help facing and managing the challenges to stillness in our lives. It is difficult for us to pay attention to sacred stillness for any length of time. We spend our lives distracted by things all around us and by our own thoughts and feelings from within us.

How does stillness teach us how to listen, how to pay attention? What is it about listening which shows us how to become more open?

Listening to sacred stillness teaches us in many ways. We develop our listening skills by building a contemplative practice of paying attention to stillness. Many of us receive suggestions from other people with whom we talk or whose writing we read.

In my experience the most significant way stillness teaches us how to listen is by listening to us. When sacred stillness listens to us it gives us an example to follow.

We choose to build a practice of listening to sacred stillness each day. Our concerns are about how we will spare time from our urgent schedules and the practical aspects of our practice. We want to know what is the shortest amount of time we need to spend and how often we absolutely need to practice.

The time we spend practicing is often filled with interruptions and distractions. Some of us feel frustrated or guilty about how we practice.

We are missing the point. We practice listening to sacred stillness and sacred stillness listens to us.

What is it like when sacred stillness listens to us?

How Sacred Stillness Listens to Us

Many of us think it is difficult, or even impossible to listen to sacred stillness. Stillness, by definition, does not talk to us loudly. We believe it is easy for us to miss what sacred stillness is trying to tell us.

Some of us assume stillness is passive, inert, not communicating. We try to practice listening to sacred stillness for a few minutes and we throw up our hands. All we can hear are the distractions and not the stillness. We tried listening, it did not work, so we gave up.

When I give a presentation on Benedictine spirituality I try to arrive before anyone else. It is important to me to ensure the room is set up the way I want it and remove all the used coffee cups. I also start playing a recording of Gregorian chanting. People come into the room involved in many different conversations. Eventually it gets close to the time when the presentation is supposed to begin.

People know what to expect because they are experienced in attending presentations. They grow quiet as things are about to start and postpone the rest of their conversations.

The room grows quiet and several people are surprised to notice the recording of chanting for the first time. They had not been listening for chanting and were more accustomed to listening to their own conversations.

We often listen to whatever is right in front of us demanding our attention. When I ride the train I often see people wearing headphones to watch a video or listen to a podcast. They are trying to pay attention to one thing in the context of all the distractions the experience of the train offers.

Sacred stillness listens to us regardless of what else is happening.

Sacred Stillness Listens All the Time

Stillness is a more skillful and patient listener than we are.

Sacred stillness listens even when we are not paying attention to what we are doing or saying. The words we say do not distract because stillness listens at a more intimate level than our words or our actions.

Stillness listens to us, to who we are.

We are not able to distract or persuade sacred stillness. Stillness knows us so intimately we are not able to fool it into believing something which is not true. Even when we are not certain who we are, sacred stillness knows us better than we know ourselves.

Sacred stillness listens and knows.

Listening and knowing us with intimacy, sacred stillness neither condemns nor criticizes us. At our most vulnerable, when we most need it, stillness holds us in its arms and shows us our own value. We sit listening to sacred stillness and stillness helps us recognize what we need to see.

Stillness is not the vast inert expanse we often assume it is. It is alive, if we are willing to listen.

Sacred stillness listen and knows and holds us in its arms.

Stillness Listens Its Way Into Our Lives

The longer I practice contemplative listening the more sacred stillness is integral to my life.

As I spend time listening and being listened to, sacred stillness is at work transforming me. The stillness I experience in the world around me seeks the stillness within me.

We practice listening to sacred stillness and sacred stillness listens to us. Each of us knows how the feeling of someone authentically listening to us and the despair when no one is listening. Even when it feels like no one is listening sacred stillness listens to to us.

The more we experience how stillness listens to us the more deeply we thirst for listening in our lives. We learn from the example of stillness and become stronger listeners.

Our practice of contemplative listening echoes how stillness listens to us. We follow the example of sacred stillness as we listen to stillness, to each other, and to ourselves.

Stillness listens in ways which are simple and uncomplicated, but not easy. Practice shows us how to listen as stillness listens.

Will we recognize how stillness listens to us today?

How will our contemplative practices remind us stillness listens this week?

[Image by Steve A Johnson]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com and his email address is [email protected].

Blog

Sacred Stillness

Previous Post

August 3, 2019

Practices From the Inside Out: Why Are We Still Climbing?

Next Post

August 8, 2019 Monastic Strategies: Building Reflective Communities

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Blog Book Reviews Everything Else Guest Posts Leadership Monastic Strategies Neighborhood Pilgrimages Sacred Stillness Spiritual Direction Spiritual Practices Work

Select a Month May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Buy a field while the enemy besieges the city? I did this to demonstrate that houses and fields would again be bought in this land. Where was this property?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jerusalem Anathoth Bethlehem Shiloh