The value of stillness

We live in an age of busy schedules and seemingly endless demands. People try to find moments or oases of stillness through various means. Many turn to prayer for calm grounding.

Opening up to a quiet fount of spiritual ideas stills thought that is fearful, muddled, or self-focused and leads to healing. Perhaps the psalmist described this type of prayer best when he wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10).

Christ Jesus showed the effect of doing this. At one point he was in a boat with his disciples when a storm blew in. Such was his confidence in the tranquility of ever-present Spirit that he was asleep (see Matthew 8:23-27). Moreover, when his frightened disciples awakened him, the tone of his thought embraced both them and the environment. All became calm – the wind, the waves, and the disciples’ fears were all stilled.

The world faces many kinds of storms involving disturbing events. If we know and rely on the source of the stillness that Jesus expressed, we too can increasingly calm the storms in our lives and environment.

Stillness as Jesus expressed it is an aspect of our oneness with God. He succinctly described his relation to God by saying, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). As Spirit is a biblical name for God, he was also saying, “I and Spirit are one.”

Furthermore, Jesus’ divine Parent is also our Parent, so we too can say, “I and Spirit are one.” This means that each of us is actually spiritual right now and that Spirit, God, is the source of all the good we express. And, too, our consciousness reflects the substance of Spirit.

We can feel this relation to Spirit through God-impelled thoughts and moments of inspiration. Poised thought, receptive to Spirit’s ideas, subdues the apparent pressures of mortal existence and gives us access to spiritual power. We understand more clearly how Jesus was able to calm storms through the Christly qualities that derived from his inseparability from God.

This is a great place for us to start our prayer – being still and acknowledging our inherent expression of Christly qualities, such as love for God, caring for others, and putting out fear. If we are feeling distressed about anything, we have a starting point – recognizing the presence and divine parenthood of Spirit and our heritage as Spirit’s offspring. Everyone can experience more stillness today by acknowledging Spirit’s parentage and our God-given spiritual identity and by exercising Christlike qualities.

While traveling to different countries, there were many times that I was aware of warnings about prevalent illness or social unrest at my various destinations. I prepared for these trips by knowing that God was present everywhere. That is the nature of divine Spirit – to be omnipresent. This certainty of never moving out of the presence of Spirit diminished fear and led to safe, confident travel and freedom from illness.

God-centered stillness also propels the momentum of our spiritual progress in whatever we’re praying about. We find an uplifted stance of poise and feel stronger in carrying out our various assignments.

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, faced many impositions on her own need for stillness as she worked to establish and strengthen the Christian Science movement. Friction, fear, human ego, resentment, and animosity expressed by those with whom she interacted often buffeted her. She articulated the standard for effective action, which she herself practiced: “The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action” (“Retrospection and Introspection,” p. 93).

This stillness is not passive. The activity of Christ, the true idea of God, neutralizes the prickliness of materiality that would tend to negatively impact our God-given aims and activities. Christly qualities, expressed, bring health, peace, and contentment.

The quietness resulting from the realization of Spirit’s omnipresence has an ongoing healing impact. From the perspective of God-based stillness, it is natural to be alive to Spirit’s presence, expressed in ever more patience, freshness, and resilience. Right where a problem seems to be unraveling is the presence of Spirit, nullifying it. And this is as provable today as it was when Jesus stilled the storm.

Adapted from an editorial published in the May 1, 2023, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.