Listening to Sacred Stillness: Uncovering Truth in the Stillness

Uncovering Truth in the Stillness

Where do we go to search for truth? How do we know if we find it? Can we uncover truth in the stillness?

We find looking for accuracy easier than looking for truth. Our culture seems to value being accurate and specific  more than uncovering truth.

Some of us assume we need to grow old in order to appreciate truth. We like to believe experience will automatically help us uncover the truth.

We might try asking other people to tell us the truth. Some of us demand people tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Sometimes we read books written by people we believe uncovered the truth. Some of us study truth in school or go to conferences with people we think will tell us the truth.

It can take a long time before we appreciate whether something is the truth. We may experience something which seems true at first but wears off over time.

Many of us have difficulty appreciating the truth for ourselves. It is a challenge for us to know what is true and what is not.

How do we search for truth? When do we know whether we are coming into contact with real truth?

Can we sort out whether something is true or false while there is still enough time to make a difference?

The place I go to uncover the truth most often is listening to sacred stillness.

It may seem ironic to seek the truth in stillness. In my experience discerning what is true is less about analyzing options and more about reflection. It is a more contemplative pursuit than learning new information.

I am learning how stillness is the truth’s natural habitat. The truth lives in stillness, so we go there to uncover it.

How We Uncover Truth in the Stillness

I believe truth lives in stillness, but stillness is not its only home. We can uncover truth in many places, if we take time to listen.

It is not because truth needs perfect or protected conditions to live or grow or thrive. Loud noises or bright lights or rapid movement do not endanger truth.

We uncover truth in stillness because we are able to listen and pay attention when we are still.

Stillness is not a particularly fertile environment for truth. It is not as if stillness is the right soil with the proper acidity for finding truth.

We uncover truth in stillness because when we are still we can recognize and appreciate what truth has to tell us. Stillness frees us from distractions which make it more challenging for us to listen.

We are more able to uncover and appreciate truth when we take time to listen to sacred stillness. The truth is always there, waiting for us, but it can be drowned out.

We do not listen the way we would to someone reading, or telling, a story. It is not about remembering every word or even being caught up in the narrative.

Our listening practice is not about squeezing every drop of insight from the world around us. We are not working to organize and categorize or even remember truth.

Truth is not something for us to earn or acquire or subdue. We are not trying to amass a collection of true sayings.

We are not memorizing answers so we can pass objective tests. Our practice is not about getting other people to appreciate our own truth. There is no checklist or truth hall of fame we are hoping to attain.

We uncover truth in stillness and it flows into and through us.

Where We Can Uncover Truth in the Stillness

Truth can be a challenge to find even as we practice listening to sacred stillness.

Our practice is not about flipping a switch which illuminates truth for us. We may find truth in unexpected places.

More and more we find it as we reflect on what we have experienced. Our search for truth is not about accumulating facts or experience, but about the time we spend in stillness.

Most of us receive more than enough information each day. We do not find truth in hoarding even more. It comes from how we listen, how we respond to what we hear.

Truth is not about knowing more or experiencing more. It becomes our own as we put it into practice.

We demonstrate we have gained and accepted truth, it has become ours, when it changes the ways we live. We know it is truth when it shapes how we behave.

Truth we do not apply in practice is no more than good ideas. We know we have found truth when we understand how and why it helps us live differently.

We listen to sacred stillness and uncover truth in the stillness.

Why We Uncover Truth in the Stillness

We do not need more ideas, more emotional experiences, more strength to find truth. Sometimes new stimulation makes truth harder to recognize.

I have come to see truth not as something we pursue, but part of the fabric of our world. We are not on a quest to find it is hidden somewhere. What we seek is all around us and within us.

When we seek truth it helps us to step out of our regular routine. Sometimes I go to the beach or the mountains or the woods. It helps to take time in the middle of everyday life and listen for truth.

Truth is not a wild animal to be found and put in a cage. We uncover truth and listen to what it has to tell us.

As we take time to stop and listen we uncover truth within ourselves and the world around us. It is not limited to blinding flashes of insight. It comes to us one drop at a time, setting our hearts on fire.

When will we listen to uncover truth in the stillness today?

How will uncovering truth in the stillness shape us this week?

[Image by katerha]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual director in Southern California. He has served as an assistant district attorney, an associate university professor, and is a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com and his email address is StrategicMonk@gmail.com.