The Stillpoint

 Bernadette Roberts 

By continually looking into himself man eventually finds an interior stillpoint. At first he may regard this as a mere nothing, a kind of blank spot in his mind, a small area of darkness in which there is nothing going on. Thus he tends to overlook it, pay no attention, give it no value, explain it away or gloss over it. But if he were to stay with it, pay attention to it -- seek it out even, he is bound to make a significant discovery. He will discover that  the longer he can stay with it, keep his eyes on it, experiences it, the more silent his whole being becomes. His mind and thoughts grow silent, his energies wane and consequently his flow of emotion comes to a halt. Now he realizes this is a quiet, silent stillpoint within. The more he contacts this stillpoint the more he realizes that it brings peace and a renewal of his being. In a word, it has various benefits, and at the same time its mystery arouses in him a curiosity to find out its true nature or what it is all about.... 

Nobody has to contact the stillpoint, on the contrary it is up to our moving will to do so, to allow ourselves, in other words, to become silent and still. We choose it, the stillpoint makes no demands of its own, but once chosen, once contacted, our being becomes increasingly silent and the more we contact it, the more silent we become.

© Bernadette Roberts