Internal Stillness in the Age of Constant Movement
Keywords:
Silence, Mental and Emotional Landscapes, Silence, Mental, EmotionalAbstract
This paper argues for the importance of cultivating the ability to stop and internally yield, particularly at this time in history when we are, in the words of theologian Boff, at a point of socioecological crisis. We are ideologically polarized as humans; meanwhile, we are increasingly aware of how destructive human behavior has been for the world’s poor, for the Earth’s ecosystems, for the Earth itself. There is a desire for peace amid torrents of real and fabricated information coming from social media sites, the internet and television. Never has it been more difficult to stop. Yet, if we can learn to stop internally, I argue that we will become capable of insight and imagination that would otherwise be unavailable to us. Through a contemplative posture of ‘awaiting,’ we will become not only better grounded in reality, but we will be better capable of addressing the socioecological crisis we face today.
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