Life of Stillness
Life of Stillness (1)
By Mar Isaac, Bishop of Nineveh
Detachment and the exhortation to it:
Being loosed from all things precedes being united to the One:
Hasten to loosen every external bond from yourself, and then you will be able to bind your heart to God… Bread is given to the child after weaning. And the person who wants to attain the divine things must first become estranged from the world, like a child from his mother’s breast.
If you want to draw near to God with your heart, first show Him your longing by leaving bodily things…
This is so that the mind may not be bound by anything—not by sight, nor by hearing, nor by concern for things, neither their corruption nor their management, nor for any person. For God has bound our mind to His hope alone… by being loosed from all things… Leave the trivial things to find the great things. Be dead through life, and do not live through deadness.
No one desires heavenly things while his desire is tied to bodily things. For the desire that is in a person is known by his works. Do not seek consolation placed outside the heart.
Withdraw from every consolation brought about through the service of the senses, that you may be deemed worthy of that consolation which is acquired from within.
All good and evil things that befall the body—let them be to you as dreams. For not only by the death of the body are you loosed from them, but many times before death they leave you and depart. If any of them has a share in your soul, then consider that it has possessed you forever…
If you have possessions, distribute them at once. And if you do not, do not desire to have any…
Remove from your cell luxuries and excess. For this leads you to asceticism even if you do not wish it. For need of things teaches a person restraint. But if we become strong in things and immersed in them, we cannot restrain ourselves.
Do not think that the possession of gold and silver alone is love of property, but anything your will clings to in desire…
Beware of loving possessions for the sake of spending on the poor…
If you have abandoned the things of the world, do not contend with anyone in anything at all.
Means of detachment:
No one can truly attain this virtue—which is non-possession—unless he convinces himself to endure trials with joy. And no one can bear hardships and endure them unless he believes that there is something more honorable than bodily comfort… Then the thought of renunciation comes upon him.
And the one who deprives himself of material things but does not detach himself from the activity of the senses—meaning sight and hearing—brings to himself doubled sorrow and distress… For when he returns to enjoy them (the senses), he is harmed and moved by pains… Therefore, withdrawal and solitude are good. They help greatly, for they silence thoughts with courage and give strength to acquire patience. Withdraw from lovers of possessions and those passionate about crowds, as you flee from possessions.
Benefits of detachment:
As much as the body is freed from the bonds of things, so the mind is freed. And if it is not loosed from all that is seen and from its acquisition, it will not be loosed from the movements caused for its sake, nor will it be idle from thoughts that darken the mind.
The mind that has truly died to the world is moved entirely by God. True deadness is movement in truth.
Whenever a person is in detachment, the thought of departing from life stirs in his heart continually. And with the life after the resurrection he meditates always, and he strives to acquire readiness for there.
Patience over the loss of every honor and comfort grows in his heart. And contempt for this world stirs in his mind. And he acquires a courageous heart, daring toward every fearful thing and every dangerous and deadly matter.
For he does not even fear death, for he awaits it at all times.
But if by some reason something of the passing things comes into his hand, he acquires it by the deceit of that sage in all evils—I mean Satan—then the love of the body and its comfort begins to move in his mind. And he thinks of a long life. And he preserves his body so that no harm may approach it if possible. And from this point arise thoughts and meditations of fear and terror…
The solitary who has entered into concern for visible things has forgotten his first promise.
Gathering the mind
What is gathering the mind? The exhortation to it:
Gathering the mind and the stillness of conscience is said when thoughts meditate with spiritual meditation on the care and governance of God’s wisdom.
The true gathering of the mind is known when the mind is freed from imagining the forms of passions.
Distraction is called evil when the mind wanders in bodily, worldly things. But good distraction is when the mind wanders in the meditation of its fruitful knowledge, moving from contemplation to contemplation.
Just as meditation on visible things is distraction in relation to intelligible things, so also meditation on intelligible things is distraction in relation to the meditation on the mysteries of the knowledge of the Holy Trinity.
Let no one be amazed at this: gathering the mind is not easily found—not even that partial kind that occurs at the time of service and prayer… For it is not from bodily works only, nor for beginners, nor found casually, nor in a short time easily…
But with much stillness and with the work of the heart, it is given to people who have entirely left the world and have completely died to the sight and hearing of people.
It is not fitting for the solitary to move and lower his mind from standing before God for the sake of any matter.
True wisdom is beholding God. And beholding God is the silence of thoughts.
Gathering the mind through distancing from things and concerns:
If you want to withdraw from the distraction of thoughts and find space for prayer with your mind, gather yourself from matter, from concern for things, from ambition, and the distraction of the senses. And know that as much as the body is freed from the bonds of things, so the mind is freed.
Quiet yourself from vain concern, that you may find your understanding. Virtue is that a person be empty of the world in his mind.
The one who is withdrawn from the world is the one who hates conversation with the thoughts and concerns of this world.
The one who is concerned with many things is a slave to many. And the one who rejects everything and cares for the correction of himself is a lover of God. It is therefore fitting for the monk to set himself before the face of God and keep his gaze toward Him, if he truly desires to preserve his mind and purify it from the subtle movements that creep within it.
Many actions bring about many concerns. And many concerns give birth to abundant thoughts. And thus the mind departs from stillness and from being raised above every earthly care.
The soul that has sensed the life that surpasses the body does not care for what is of the world.
What necessity compels us to search for God in heaven and earth and to roam with our mind after Him in places?! Purify yourself, O human, and remove from yourself the remembrance of concerns foreign to your nature and the meditation of external memories. And hang upon the door of your mind’s movements the veil of chastity and humility. For through these things you will find God within you. And the proof of this is that the mysteries are revealed to the humble.
Gathering the mind by abandoning vain and evil meditation:
If you fear distraction, cut off from yourself the evil meditation that has accumulated from looseness of conduct.
The solitary who does not rebuke the thought or the memories that arise in his heart and silence them, but safely converses with them with joy and responds to them, even going out to seek them… this is a great marketplace…!
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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year 14, Issue 1, 1-1-1986
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