The Art of Stillness — Perennial Habits
On Being and Becoming
Today’s meditation is part of our previous course, Perennial Habits: Ancient Practices for Daily Life, on Perennial Meditations. The 7-week course explored the art (and science) of change.
The Art of Stillness
“Going nowhere, as Leonard Cohen would later emphasize for me, isn’t about turning your back on the world; it’s about stepping away now and then so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply,” writes Pico Iyer in his short book The Art of Stillness. The book is based on Iyer’s popular Ted Talk — Where is Home?
According to Iyer,
It is only by stopping movement that you can see where to go. And it’s only by stepping out of your life and the world that you can see what you most deeply care about and find a home.
Iyer’s words connect with the perennial habit — Discerning the Way. Stillness is a way of discerning what matters and what is actually up to us.
“One of the strange laws of the contemplative life,” observed the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, “is that in it you do not sit down and solve problems: you bear with them until they somehow solve themselves.” The art of stillness is about realizing that not all of life’s problems are problems to be solved.
Being and Becoming
In Start Here, a book about well-being, authors Eric Langshur and Nate Klemp write that most self-development books focus on either being or doing. Books about being speak of the benefits of slowing down, becoming present, and feeling the incredible joy of aliveness. On the other hand, books about doing stress the importance of maximizing productivity, finding a sense of purpose, and succeeding in work and life.
The art of stillness helps us focus on being and becoming.
In his book, Stillness is the Key, Ryan Holiday stresses,
Stillness is what aims the archer’s arrow. It inspires new ideas. It sharpens perspective and illuminates connections. It slows the ball down so that we might hit it. It generates a vision, helps us resist the passions of the mob, and makes space for gratitude and wonder.
The practice of stillness is not about withdrawing from the world. It is discovering that the point of life is always arrived at in the here and now. And in these precious moments are opportunities to become who we are.
Final Thoughts
The goal of stillness is not a choice between being or becoming. The art of stillness is learning how to live in a chaotic and uncertain world. The world’s enduring wisdom traditions tell us that a well-lived life is also about what we do and our impact on others.
The great philosophers and sages that came to understand the art of stillness ultimately returned to society with the realization that waking up is not the end — it’s the beginning. “They realized that the essential task of living isn’t to stop doing and start being,” explains Langshur and Klemp. It is to be while doing — to inspire and enhance the lives of those around us.
Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
P.S. If you like daily meditations on the art of living, check out the Perennial Meditations newsletter.
