thomas-roland-ken trinity

But she left one out!

Be still and

Its like totally pointing to infinity duuude!  Teehee

I suppose just "be" covers that....

"Yet, even this is an external observation.  What happens interiorly "in secret" can be very hard to put into precise words and kudos go to those who try to communicate this.  If nothing else the inner dynamic remains for us an invitation...in some regards it is our own act of faith to accept this invitation, to launch out into the deep water, that makes all the difference."

John, this is core...accept the invitation to go inside.  How we resist the silence...even as it calls our name, we resist.  The music, the community, the rituals, the cacophony of outer distractions are so compelling.  The temptation to engage in a stimulating conversation with another, read a book about meditation and contemplative prayer or even listen to music that opens the heart can pull us away from the silence that invites us to drop in and be still.

And, even when we go inside, our fantasy imagination begins to play a familiar tune.  Habitual thought loops rooted in our personality structure create stories and we believe these stories are real, but they too, are distractions...obstacles.   In Jesus' 40 days in the desert, he encountered the obstacles to I AMnes.  Evagrius encountered the obstacles in the desert and witnessed them in his fellow monks.  As we drop more deeply inside, the obstacles can become more tenacious and present themselves in subtler ways. We can feel as if the ground beneath us has been pulled away. 

Recognizing the habitual patterns, feeling them somatically, relaxing into them with the breath and remembering the profound relationship of trust as we sit in practice is the only way out of the contraction against the stillness and into the deep water which, as you say, makes all the difference.