The Stillness

Stillness is often misunderstood.

We tend to associate it with meditation, closed eyes, quiet rooms, incense, mountains, monasteries. And unconsciously we conclude: this must be hard, this is for special people, this is not for me.

If stillness were only reached through meditation, then all Buddhists would be enlightened and most people in the Western world would be hopelessly lost. And clearly, that is not how it works.

Stillness is not a technique.

It is not a posture.

It is not something you do.

Stillness is what remains when the screaming voice in the mind is no longer believed.

The ego is loud. Not because it is powerful, but because it is insecure. It fills every gap with commentary. Judgments. Worries. Opinions. Narratives. If it goes quiet for even a second, it panics, because silence exposes that it has no real substance.

That is why the ego fears stillness.

Stillness is not empty. It is revealing.

In A Course in Miracles, stillness is not presented as a spiritual achievement, but as a natural state that is already there, underneath the noise. The Course does not ask you to fight the ego into silence. It asks you to stop listening to it so seriously.

This is a crucial difference.

Trying to silence the ego keeps you engaged with it. Listening without believing gently loosens its grip. Like a radio playing in the background that you no longer follow. The sound may still be there, but it no longer dictates your experience.

Stillness can arise anywhere.

While washing dishes.

While walking.

While listening to someone without preparing your reply.

While noticing a thought and not continuing it.

This is why stillness has very little to do with meditation as a practice, and everything to do with attention. Not focused attention, but open attention. A willingness to pause the constant inner commentary and simply notice.

So the real question is not: How do I become still?

The real question is: What am I willing to stop feeding?

Stillness is born the moment we stop arguing with what is.

The moment we stop defending an identity.

The moment we stop rehearsing past conversations or future victories.

And then comes the deeper question you asked:

If I am still… what am I listening to?

Not to words. Not to instructions shouted from above. Not to a new belief system replacing the old one.

You are listening to the absence of conflict.

To a quiet knowing that does not explain itself.

To clarity without effort.

To peace that does not need a reason.

The Course calls this listening to the Holy Spirit. But that name can mislead. It is not a voice competing with the ego. It is the silence behind all voices. The place in the mind where nothing needs to be defended.

This is why stillness feels unfamiliar and deeply comforting at the same time. It does not flatter the ego. It does not congratulate you. It simply is.

And in that stillness, something becomes very clear:

You are not the thoughts, the noise, or the struggle…..and it is not something you enter…

It is something you stop leaving !

And the moment you stop running your inner commentary, even briefly, you will recognize it.

It has been listening all along.

With love and light,

G.