Stillness
“Real
profound and voluptuous and delicious entertainment. The real feast
that is available within this activity.”
Leonard
Cohen (excerpted from The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer)
I
heard a TED talk last weekend by Pico Iyer about his book, The Art
of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere. It struck me as
an important consideration going into the busy (some would say,
insane) holiday season. The idea is to take a few minutes of each day
and do absolutely nothing. Don't read, don't meditate, don't make
lists, don't listen to music, just sit still and be quiet. This young
man, Pico Iyer, is an essayist and novelist, who globe-trots for a living,
and has since he was a child. He went to an isolated mountain retreat
to find Leonard Cohen, the musician and song writer responsible for
so many deeply thoughtful songs in the 1960's and 70's. Cohen's days are now spent in quiet, being still, and he has found it to be a most
conducive catalyst for creativity.
Most
of us have neither the inclination, nor the resources, to simply go
and sit on a mountain top for the rest of our lives, but we could, if
we chose, work some stillness into our day. Our lives, at least in
America, are frenetic enough to separate us from ourselves—body,
mind and spirit going in opposite directions. I can't tell you how
often I ask someone, “What did you do today?” and they have to
stop and assess, “What did I do today?” as though they had
not been there at all. As though someone else had borrowed their body
for the day and they have no idea what was done with it.
Iyer
advises this: “One could start just by taking a few minutes out of
every day to sit quietly and do nothing, letting what moves one rise
to the surface. One could take a few days out of every season to go
on retreat or enjoy a long walk in the wilderness, recalling what
lies deeper than the moment or the self.” Doesn't that sound good?
Doesn't it sound possible? Just a little bit of “nothingness”
each day would make the pace of the holidays so much more tolerable.
Let's give it a try.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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