Most Field training students understand stillness as that fertile starting point of practice characterized by the self-evident, inner apperception of one’s own being.
The inner stillness, however, is only one form that stillness takes in our practice, the aim of which is alignment—that state of friendly agreement between desire and belief—and not manifestation, as it is typically in the popular approaches to the subject of consciousness-as-cause.
Another profoundly useful application of stillness lies simply in not reacting to things. Of this, the ancient Tao Te Ching states, “The sage cannot be beaten, because he does not contend."
In a more modern rendering, the renowned metaphysician Florence Scovel Shinn writes, “I do not move, so the situation moves.”
In other words—and this can be a revelation in practice—the reactions that seem to us all but second nature in this or that situation really are choices, and we are free to choose the stillness of non-reaction instead at any time.
The effect of making this choice often startles others, and can be powerfully transformative.
Simply by choosing to remain still and unreactive in the face of some factual invitation that previously we might have allowed to upset us, we may find the situation coming right on its own with a remarkable efficiency. Such stillness has the power to elicit or reveal the truth, calm the ruffled spirit of others, disclose a way on when no way is apparent, and many other benefits.
Of course, given a lifetime of reacting, we may find the stillness option difficult at first. The things that are worthwhile often are difficult at first—which is why we talk in terms of “practice.
” With practice, we find that the flashpoint of reaction slows down. Stillness gains entry to the moment and works its magic.
And this magical moment, the moment in which we wake up and see that we can refrain from agreeing with unwanted facts—even this much—opens doors where there were none a moment before.
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