In the Quiet Stillness

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10

“In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved.” ACIM Text pg. 574

“Learn to be quiet, for His Voice is heard in stillness.” ACIM Manual for Teachers, pg. 38

“Let this day be a day of stillness and of quiet listening.” ACIM Lesson 125

“I will be still an instant and go home.”
“When you are still an instant, when the world recedes from you, when valueless ideas cease to have value in your restless mind, then will you hear His Voice.” ACIM Lesson 182

In the Course in Miracles, stillness is emphasized over and over as the condition by which God’s Voice can be heard. How easy it is to believe I am in stillness and quietness and yet my mind is babbling on about this or that. Stillness - true stillness, whereby the mind is still, takes practice. And yet, if I practice Lesson 182 on a daily basis, on an instant-by-instant basis, I know I can succeed.

I wonder what project I’ll make next.
I will be still an instant and go home.
What should I cook for Christmas?
I will be still an instant and go home.
Will he like the gifts I got for him?
I will be still an instant and go home.
I really should clean the kitchen floor today.
I will be still an instant and go home.
I wonder if I have any new e-mails.
I will be still an instant and go home.

In this season of the year, when all it stands for, from a religious or spiritual perspective, should be a time of stillness and peace, too often we are too caught up in the hubbub and stress to stop and listen to God’s Voice. Let me go away, not just from the din of the throngs of shoppers in the mall, but away from the ceaseless chatter of my thoughts. When I neglect my 10 minute meditation first thing in the morning, as I have done lately, I see the difference throughout my day. Something seems “off.”

“Learn to be quiet in the midst of turmoil, for quietness is the end of strife and this is the journey to peace. Look straight at every image that rises to delay you, for the goal is inevitable because it is eternal. The goal of love is but your right, and it belongs to you despite your dreams.” ACIM Text pg. 219

“You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind’s miscreations. The particular result does not matter, but the fundamental error does. The correction is always the same. Before you choose to do anything, ask me if your choice is in accord with mine. If you are sure that it is, there will be no fear.” ACIM Text pg. 29 (Jesus referring to fear and conflict)

"Let me be still and listen to the truth." ACIM Lesson 106

"Let go all the trivial things that churn and bubble on the surface of your mind, and reach down and below them to the Kingdom of Heaven.” ACIM Lesson 48, pg. 76

I will be still in my mind. It is in the stillness that I will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit/Jesus - the Voice for God. It is in the stillness that I will return to the Kingdom of Heaven.