A QUIET MIND IS ALL THAT MATTERS

What is the most common trouble afflicting the minds of ordinary people? In my years of counselling others, it is this---a troubled and unsettled mind.

Now, a mind can be troubled for many reasons. In some cases, there is an underlying mental illness or mental disorder, and that ordinarily requires the assistance of a health care professional (for example, a psychiatrist or psychologist). However, in my experience a mind that is otherwise free from mental illness or mental disorder is troubled and unsettled because it is no longer quiet.

Here are some of my favourite quotations on the importance of a quiet mind:

‘... in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength …’ - Isaiah 30:15.

 ‘Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.’ - Jesus (Mark 4:39).

‘The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.’ - Ram Dass.

‘Let your mind become clear like a still forest pool.

If you let cloudy water settle, it will become clear.

If you let your upset mind settle, your course will also become clear.

If you take care of each moment, you will take care of all time.’ - Shakyamuni Buddha.

One of my spiritual mentors was the late Dr Norman Vincent Peale. He helped millions of troubled people in his long lifetime. He gave some wonderful advice on how to still the mind and the body. He often said that you cannot still the mind until the body has become still. First, still--- that is, relax---the body, and then the mind will follow. Dr Peale wrote, ‘Sit still, be silent, let composure creep over you.’

Botanic garden in the centre of the city of Nantes, France.

(Photo taken by the author.)

There, my friends, you have some wonderful and very practical advice---psycho-spiritual wisdom at its very best. Sit still. No matter how troubled you may be, just sit still. Then, be silent. Say nothing. If thoughts come into your mind---and they will---just watch them. Observe them. Don’t dwell upon them or resist them, and don’t judge or analyse them. Thoughts (which give rise to the illusory sense of there being a 'psychological "I"') are autonomously generated by your mind as a result of your conditioning, which is the past. Thoughts are not you, the person (that is, the 'physical "I", which is ontologically real) that in truth you are. Just let the thoughts pass away---and they will indeed pass away provided you ... let them be. No matter how many thoughts enter your mind, just let them be. And, as Dr Peale said, ‘let composure creep over you.’

What wonderful words---‘let composure creep over you.’ The word ‘creep,’ as a verb, suggests a gradual, progressive and almost imperceptible process. The achievement of composure will take some time, but it will happen---if you let it happen. Don’t try to force it to happen, for if you do composure will not occur. The Buddha’s words quoted above stress the importance of ‘letting be.’ He is reported as having said, ‘If you let your upset mind settle, your course will also become clear’ [emphasis added].

Say to yourself, many times over, ‘Peace, be still.’ Those very words are calming in themselves, and when said quietly and meaningfully to yourself, they will help your body, and then your mind, to relax and become still.

‘Be still, and know …’ (Ps 46:10). They are wonderful words, especially the first two. Be still. You see, there is really nothing to do. Just---be still. Start with the body, and the mind will become still as well.

Be still. Be silent. And let composure creep over you.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blogspot is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your medical practitioner or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on this blogspot. For immediate advice or support call Lifeline on 13 1 1 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. For information, advice and referral on mental illness contact the SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263) go online via sane.org

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Professor Mark Williams (Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the University of Oxford) and Dr Danny Penman are the authors of Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World.

The book uses a program based on mindfulness meditation developed by Williams and Penman at the University of Oxford to relieve anxiety, stress, exhaustion and depression.

In this CNN feature the authors discuss ‘10 easy steps’ to destress your life, and in this YouTube video clip Professor Williams, who is the Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, talks about the 'science of mindfulnesss':

Now, here’s something else which you can do, proactively, each day – something which, if done regularly, will help to desensitise yourself to stress. It’s called ‘entering the silence’ as well as 'practising the silence.'

Now, the silence is not a negative state of mind nor is it an inert state of mind. It is a place where you can hear interiorly what the Bible refers to as the ‘still small voice’ (1 Ki 19:12). Jesus, who taught that the 'kingdom of God' is within [Gk entos] us (see Lk 17:21), had some very good advice on this matter of 'entering the silence'. His instruction (cf Mt 6:6) was to enter into the closet (that is, the silence of your mind) and shut the door – that is, focus your attention on the experience of simply being without seeking to think, feel, analyse, and so forth.

When you enter the silence, you are approaching the very presence of being – that is, sheer existence … the very livingness of life itself. The state of mind experienced in the silence is not one of passivity or non-action. No, it is an awakened state of mind in which all things are experienced – as new – in the eternal now. Mental action may slow – indeed, it should – but the action of being fully present in the moment from one moment to the next will quicken and intensify.

Mystics of all faiths and none often refer to the experience of the silence as a period of conscious, wordless communion with the sacred or the divine. Indeed, it is, for what could be more sacred or divine than life itself … in all its fullness … experienced in the intensity of the moment? There is only one life manifesting itself in all things as all things. If you can truly know – not as book-knowledge – this life as one you will experience conscious communion with all life. Yes, you will come to know the ‘Self as One.’ Here's the 'secret': 'Be still, and know' (Ps 46:10). In the words of the poet John Keats, ‘that is all there is to know on earth and all you need to know.’

If you are ‘new’ to the practice of the silence, I suggest that you do not make the period of silence too long in the beginning. Start with, say, 2 or 3 minutes. The important thing is to have a regular period of silence each day, preferably at the same time (eg first thing in the morning).

Return to the silence throughout the day as and when necessary and when you simply want to commune with the divine. It is written, 'My presence will go with you, and ... give you rest' (Ex 33:14), and 'Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while' (Mk 6:31). Yes, the experience of the silence is akin to the calm that precedes or follows the proverbial storm, but it is much more than that. Much more. You see, the silence is calm. The silence knows no storms. The silence is also peace. Not just peace, but that peace that passes all understanding (cf Phil 4:7) which abides in the minds of those who consciously dwell in the eternal now. Another thing. The silence is a power – indeed, the Power – for good which makes all things new. The silence is also a presence – indeed, the Presence – in which we, along with all other persons and things, live and move and have our being (cf Acts 17:28). One Presence. One Power. One Life.

You need not call It 'God,' but you can if you wish. The important thing, as I see it, is this – this Presence is 'our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble' (Ps 46:1), and this Power, well, 'There is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.' The Presence is a Power – the only Power (despite there being both 'good' and 'bad' forces at work in life). The Power is also a Presence – that very same Presence – indeed Omnipresence ... for the Presence of Life fills all, and is all, and empowers all, for everything is truly an individualised expression of life. (It is written, 'Of His fulness have all we received' [Jn 1:16].) And this Presence and Power –  this All-in-All – is most fully and personally experienced in the silence. It is experienced as peace, calmness, tranquility, equanimity, wisdom, love and compassion – indeed, as all those things which we ordinarily associate with the sacred or the divine.

Here is some very good advice on 'entering the silence' from the New Thought leader, writer and historian Horatio W Dresser. It's from his book The Power of Silence:

[S]ome devotees of the ‘silence’ have thought that there was some sort of mysterious power or feeling which one might enter into by opening the mind in what they called a ‘spiritual’ direction. Hence they have entered the silence with no particular idea in mind. Now, it is desirable to help people out of the thought of ‘mysteries,’ not into them. It is the clear-cut, the intelligible idea, that is the desirable. To set out upon a vague search for the mysterious is to open the door to all sorts of abnormal mental experiences. It is because of this that so many have found it altogether imprudent to try to enter the silence at all. But the trouble lay in themselves. We find what we look for. If you believe in the occult, you will invite it. If you are in search of the sane, the quicker you cut loose from all vague groping after the mysterious the better.

So, practise the silence ... and make today – indeed, every moment – count. Angels can do no better.

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