Listening to Sacred Stillness: Pushing Out From the Shore

Pushing Out From the Shore

Many of us have an understanding of contemplation as like sitting on the shore watching the river go past. We find stillness and allow our thoughts and feelings to float past without engaging them.

Some of us appreciate sitting on the shore as a metaphor for our contemplation. Yes, we practice not chasing distractions and allowing them to float past us.

Other people, though, experience sitting still as a distraction of its own.

We may see contemplation as more of a lake or an ocean than a river. We are not watching the river go past but the ripples and waves on the surface.

Sitting on the shore feels like a constraint to us. We are drawn to sit in a boat and push out from the shore.

For some of us, contemplation does not only carry our distractions away. Contemplation also carries us away as we push away from the shore which holds us back.

We feel lifted and supported by the depth of listening to sacred stillness. The sun is warm on our skin and the wind is at our backs. We sit, rocking gently, as deep spiritual truths carry us along.

As we float along our minds find the freedom to pause their thinking and reflect. We close our eyes and breathe in deeply.

In contemplation we do not need to row or to trim our sails. The water of contemplation takes us where it will and we settle into its rhythms. We are not required to steer or navigate, only to appreciate the ride.

We open ourselves and trust the rhythm of contemplation to take us where it wants. Spiritual life flows all around us and within us and we listen to its sacred stillness.

Setting Out From the Shore

We think of listening to sacred stillness as a spiritual practice. It does take practice.

Some of us have been taught to remember the importance of practicing every day. Like practicing a sport, we are building our spiritual muscles and skills through our practice. We may have a specific place and a particular time to practice each day.

Regular practice is important. The value of our listening to sacred stillness, though, does not depend on the regularity of our practice.

We may sit in our chair on the shore each day. Our practice helps us prepare ourselves for contemplation. Contemplation, though, is not dependent on our practicing.

Some of us feel safe and secure while we practice. We believe in the value of our daily practice and are confident we are building good habits.

Others of us may find ourselves feeling drawn toward something deeper by our practice.

As we practice being open and building our spiritual strength, we are drawn to freer forms. Sitting on the shore is comfortable and a good way to learn. We may be drawn to something less restrained.

Spiritual life seems to be drawing us to more untethered contemplation. We leave our chairs on land and sit in a boat to experience how it feels.

The sun may warm our skin or we might glance at the canopy of stars over our heads. We leave the stability of land and feel the rhythm of deep contemplation holding us.

Our actions have not changed. We still breathe deeply and close our eyes, allowing thoughts and feelings to float away.

Letting go of distractions has taught us also to let go of the shore. We drift along on our contemplation, setting out from the shore.

Contemplation Takes Us Out From the Shore

Our contemplation is more than the exercises we practice.

The significance of our practice is we learn to go beyond practicing.

People who want to become trapeze acrobats practice to develop their skills. They learn how to land in a safety net when they fall and how to balance. The hours they spend practicing and the skills they build are all focused on one thing. Everything they practice is designed to help them fly through the air.

Acrobats do not practice to become the best at landing in a safety net. The hours they spend practicing are about letting go of a trapeze and flying through the air.

The time we spend practicing contemplation every day is about letting go and flying.

As we learn to let go of what holds us back contemplation takes us out from the shore. No longer tethered to the ground or a chair we float along letting go. We are beyond our thoughts and our feelings which drift away from us. Our eyes closed, we allow contemplation to carry us out from the shore.

We Push Out From the Shore Each Day

Contemplation carries us further each day. We rely on our practice to push us out from the shore into the depth of spiritual life.

There is no set itinerary or schedule for our listening. We cannot know when we will move from point A to point B to point C. It is not as if we are planning or assessing our performance.

We do not need tickets or a timetable or even directions for our journey. All we need is to trust spiritual life enough to let go and begin.

As we practice we gradually push out from the shore. Like learning to ride a bicycle or to swim, we get to a point where we realize we are moving.

There are undiscovered depths of spiritual life waiting for us to explore them. We cannot catalog or explain them until we set out from the shore to experience them.

We may be anxious or fearful they will prove too much for us. As we practice listening to sacred stillness each day we realize the depths are within us.

It is the shore which is holding us back.

How will we push out from the shore this week?

What is the next thing we can let go of to push out from the shore today?

[Image by Rusty Clark ~ 100K Photos]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and leadership coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and university professor, and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is [email protected].