At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the stillpoint, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
from The Four Quartets, TS Eliot
How good it is to center down!
To sit quietly and see one's self pass by!
The streets of our minds seethe with endless trafic;
Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences,
While something deep within hungers and thirsts
for the still moment and the resting lull.
With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes,
A fresh sense of order in our living;
A direction, a strong sure purpose that will
structure our confusion and bring meaning to our chaos.
We look at ourselves in this waiting moment - the kinds of people we are.
The questions persist:
what are we doing with our lives?
what are the motives that order our days?
What is the end of our doings?
Where are we trying to go?
Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?
For what end do we make sacrifices?
Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?
What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?
Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.
As we listen,
floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence,
there is a sound of another kind -
a deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.
It moves directly to the core of our being.
Our questions are answered.
Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round
With the peace of the Eternal in our step.
How good it is to center down!
from Meditations On The Heart, Howard Thurman
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