I recall a phone greeting that said, "At the sound of the tone, please tell me who you are and what you want. You may think these are simple questions, but most people go through their entire life and never satisfactorily answer either."
These are essential questions to ask ourselves every day. Who we are is more than our name, or what we do. What we want is more than our desired acquisitions or, even the goals which we have set for ourselves.
In today's world, social media and advertising bombard us with messages that seek to tell us what we need to be happy or complete. Consciously or unconsciously, we might find ourselves snagged into believing that what they’re selling us is what we want or need for fulfillment. We may find ourselves filled with something all right, but it’s merely the empty calories of life. In most cases, when acquisition becomes the object of our life, the by-product is a more stressful life.
However, there is an answer: silence. Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, noted, "All power is in the silence. Everything else is nothing more than a spent vibration". Many people don't take the time to go apart to be still and quiet. In silence, we can connect to the source of true power, realize our reason for being here, and recognize our real identity.
I recently listened to a podcast in which the guest shared how the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, was experiencing a rough patch while he was running the company (I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook, but that's another story). Mark was unsure how to evolve the business. The interviewee mentioned that people offered Mark a lot of money to buy the company.
Zuckerberg turned to Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, for advice. Steve had one tip for Mark: "Pack your bags for India and stay at an ashram.” It was in the quietness of the ashram that Zuckerberg captured the ideas of the future of Facebook; it turned out to be vision far beyond merely being an app for college kids. The answer did not come from some outside consulting firm or brain trust. It originated in silence.
In my experience, when I become still enough, it never ceases to amaze me to witness the thoughts that run through my mind. Many of the ideas are probably ones that ought not to go out of the confines of my consciousness. Nevertheless, in our own lives, it is vital to take extended times in which we walk, eat, and do tasks in silence.
Most of our thoughts do not focus on the here and now. Often, we are thinking about what will happen in the future or regurgitating something which happened in the past. When we are not in the present moment, we are not experiencing the fullness of what God is or what God has in store for us.
In the silence of meditation, we can come into the awareness of every expanding good of Spirit and stretch ourselves to become spacious enough to realize our life is the life of God. It is in this space we discover the “dynamic still point.”
It is the “dynamic still point” because something dynamic happens when we pull our attention inward and still the calculating surface mind. The power of peace, love, joy, and well-being begins to take over the surface mind. All that is perfect begin to reshape our body of affairs, also known as our life.
If we wake up in the morning raring to go, and stillness has not become part of our day, we merely have brought our past experiences into the present, spiced it up with a bit of imagination, and moved into the world the same person as before.
However, if we start our day with silence or meditation, we are primed for increased energy and the ability to negotiate our day more effectively. We must go to the “dynamic still point” to see the world as God sees it. It is in this space that we can more effectively answer the question of who we are and why we are here, as well as uncover the answer to the question, "What does “The Force” or “The Universe” want for my life?"
Peace and Blessings,
James