Reading Archive (Stillness)
True Meditation Has No Direction
Adyashanti
True meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrender, pure silent prayer. All methods aiming at achieving a certain state of mind are limited, impermanent, and conditioned. Fascinat...
To Be Simply, Radically, Absolutely Still
Gangaji
Sometimes, in a blessed life, there arises what we call the spiritual search, the search for God, the search for Truth. There is a recognition that the usual means of taking care of this command just ...
A Guide To Life's Turning Points
Brian Browne-Walker
Progress is made in steps, not in leaps. Move only as far as the opening allows. Remain neutral and tolerant of adversity. When in doubt, remain still. By accepting things as they are and not makin...
Rest and Be Taken
Adyashanti
When there is deep abundance there is nowhere to abide. There is nowhere to rest or grasp onto and yet there is rest The sky abides yet it never rests. Neither can we say that the sky is not...
Paradox of Noise
Gunilla Norris
It is a paradox that we encounter so much internal noise when we first try to sit in silence. It is a paradox that experiencing pain releases pain. It is a paradox that keeping still can le...
The Sun Is The Perfect Example
Vinoba Bhave
The sun is the perfect example of acting without desire. When the sun rises does the idea enter its mind to say, 'I shall banish the darkness, I shall urge the birds to fly, and I will set people ...
The Place That is Free of Suffering
Eckhart Tolle
The world promises fulfillment somewhere in time, and there is a continuous striving toward that fulfillment in time. Many times people feel, "Yes, now I have arrived," and then they realize...
True Meditation
Adyashanti
True meditation has no direction, goals, or method. All methods aim at achieving a certain state of mind. All states are limited, impermanent and conditioned. Fascination with states leads only to bon...
Why Meditate
Suzanne Toro
Meditation is the act of getting quiet and settling the mind. It’s the process of slowing and eventually stopping your thoughts, at which point you can bask in and feel the silence, trusting all...
Making Friends with the Present Moment
Alan Zulch
Some months ago, for three successive nights, I was awakened by three insights that came to me – persistently and repeatedly – one per night. The first night's message was: "Only the ...
Opposite Of Meditation Is Not Action, It's Reaction
Richard Rohr
It seems like our society is at a low point in terms of how we talk about challenging, controversial topics within our political discourse and even our spiritual reflections. I believe the only way th...
Giving it All up to the Stillness
Marion Wilson-Gruzalski
I realize that I have spent much of my life waiting for inspiration. Ever since I was a child, I have had an Inner Voice that has guided me through these many years, through all the difficult and pai...
The Mystery of Silence
Dorothy Hunt
Silence cannot really be described. It is not the absence of sound. It makes it possible to notice sound. It is still, but its stillness is constantly moving. It is nothing, but a nothing filled with ...
Nine Wisdom Steps From Spiritual Traditions
Sage Bennet
Each of the first eight [wisdom steps] introduces you to a different spiritual tradition -- Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Native American spirituality, Taoism, and New Thought -- a...
Unconditioned Stillness
Rick Hanson
Stillness, a sense of the unchanging, is all around. For example, it’s not the ultimate stillness, but there is that lovely feeling when the house is quiet and you’re sitting in p...
The Question Of Being
Adyashanti
Above the entrance to the Oracle of Delphi were written the words, “Know yourself.” Jesus came along and added a sense of urgency and consequence to the ancient idea when he said, “I...
A Meditator's Bag of Tricks
Thanissaro Bhikku
Meditation is not just a question of technique. In training the mind, you have to remember there's a whole committee in there. In the past the committee has had its balance of power, its likes and dis...
Anything Natural
Eckhart Tolle
Whenever you bring your attention to anything natural, anything that has come into existence without human intervention, you step out of the prison of conceptualized thinking and, to some extent, part...
Unproduced Stillness
Adyashanti
Silence, stillness, and awareness are not states and therefore cannot be produced or created. Silence is the non-state in which all states arise and subside. Silence is itself the eternal witness with...
Stillness Speaks
Eckhart Tolle
The mind exists in a state of "not enough" and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimu...