Greetings Readers!
Today’s meditation is Part XIII of our Perennial Habits course. Previously we discussed: The Art of Journaling, How to Contemplate — Like a Monk, The Middle Way — Buddhist Teaching, The Wisdom of Being Grateful, and other topics.
As a reminder, the next virtual meetup is on The Art (and Wisdom) of Contemplative Practices. It’s scheduled for Wednesday, May 24th (at 7:00 pm EST); you can register here. I’ll be joined by Dr. Brian Russell (author of Centering Prayer and previous podcast guest) to discuss the wisdom of integrating stillness practices in daily life.
Listen to this short audio lesson from our previous Wisdom 101 course on The Wisdom of Stillness (subscribe to The Wisdom School on Apple or Spotify).
The Art of Stillness
“Going nowhere, as Leonard Cohen would later emphasize for me, isn’t about turning your back on the world; it’s about stepping away now and then so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply,” writes Pico Iyer in his short book The Art of Stillness. The book is based on Iyer’s popular Ted Talk — Where is Home?
According to Iyer,
It is only by stopping movement that you can see where to go. And it’s only by stepping out of your life and the world that you can see what you most deeply care about and find a home.
Iyer’s words connect with the perennial habit — Discerning the Way. Stillness is a way of discerning what matters and what is actually up to us.
