Pico Iyer The Art Of Stillness Transcript

PICO IYER THE ART OF STILLNESS TRANSCRIPT HOW TO MAKE THE

One plus three plus three is seven. Now, add nine, and we get 34. So, letвЂ™s say we begin with 25.

Two plus two plus five is nine. The resulting sum of the digits will always be nine. Nine becomes transformative.

Is there any greater act of transformation than two cells becoming a baby? Can you think of an example in our daily lives where addition by nine represents preservation? I will give you a personal example.Nine years ago to the day, give or take a few days, a few folks gathered on twitter on a Sunday morning at 11am ET and had a conversation about spirituality. For example, it takes nine months for a human baby to be born. Hermann Hesse Stillness is the NO-where from which&8In human life, when nine is engaged in multiplication, it becomes an agent for transformation. Magical when we slow down to contemplate, isnвЂ™t it?The Art of Stillness Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself. Yes, we can play with nines like this all day long.

What do I love doing most? I love slowing down, sitting and doing вЂњnothingвЂќ. What should the topic be? His response was вЂ” what do you love doing most? Talk about that. I remember thinking back then вЂ” what will I even talk about? So, I asked Wayne again. ThatвЂ™s the classic way in which a teacher and mentor can nudge us to do something that takes us out of our comfort zone. It was simply an experiment inspired by a question posed by me to one of my good friends вЂ“ why isnвЂ™t there any chat on twitter about spirituality? WayneвЂ™s response was вЂ” so what if there isnвЂ™t one? Why donвЂ™t you start one?Answer a question with a question. There was no agenda or expectation that there would even be a second conversation the following Sunday.

And yet, not much has changed in some ways since 2011, has it? If anything, the need for us to experience the magic of slowing down is all the more greater, isnвЂ™t it? How else is one to engage in remembrance and gratitude, if not through the active process of slowing down? How else, if not by slowing down, am I to thankВ all of those who have sent hundreds of thousands of words of hope and inspiration to the #SpiritChat community over the years?How about slowing down offline? It is in slowing down that I can watch and deeply feel the sun rise slowly at the eastern end of the street at dawn or feel the silvery glow of the sliver of the moonвЂ™s rising at dusk. It seems like a life-time or more in online years. We had no idea what we were doing except that we were all simply happy to be there, enjoying each otherвЂ™s company as we held our cups of tea or coffee and wondered about the merits of вЂњslowing downвЂќ.That was then.

Will we make that choice? How much can we slow ourselves down? Will we observe the observer and remember that there is That permanent, indestructible, all-loving, all-joyous, all-truthful One within All off us?That remains the great question, the great challenge.Nature has some pointers for us. It shall be patiently waiting for us to accept its invitation to visit with it, to let the outer world be, and to choose to be immersed in the world within. What kind of remembrance? The external world will be relentless in its demands on us, and yet That stillness will remain in our hearts forever. Regularly slowing down within allows us to be in constant remembrance. And yes вЂ“ how is one to engage in meditation, if not by first slowing down physically and remembering to bring myself to a state of rest?So yes, slowing down allows us to return to remembrance. It allows me to touch the dew fallen in the grass with light feet, and inhale the air of the cool morning breeze before the heat rises and melts it away.

Take nine minutes and be still. That is my invitation to you. What can we learn from their behavior? Even the new puppy, who can go a hundred miles an hour, has to pause for a drink of water, a nibble at her food bowl, before she can take off again like an express train towards her next station of play.Like the piano virtuoso Wayne Mcevilly, who inspired me to start the weekly chat nine years ago said вЂ” the greatest classical music compositions are so because the composers put as much care into putting the pauses into the right place, as they did into assigning the notes that each instrument is to play.Let us condense nine years into nine minutes.

Namaste вЂ“ bee slows down to visit a butterfly bush in the front yardOver the past twenty four hours or so, a warm front sitting over the state has removed all the signs of winter from the landscape. I will bring tea and maybe even some cake вЂ“ you bring your open hearts and we will chat. I look forward to hearing from you about your experiments with pure stillness. Join me and the #SpiritChat community on Sunday, July 26 at 9amET as we slow down to create some magic. That is all there Is.We all can experience all of That, if we were to embrace the act of slowing down. There is magic in all of That.

It is in these seasons of great disruption that the heart draws on our reservoirs of intuition to restore clarity. When our outer environment is greatly disturbed or disrupted, the antennas that monitor our inner space try to recalibrate and reorient themselves.Our spiritual practices вЂ” those that help us build reservoirs of resilience, patience, calmness, jurisprudence open-minded acceptance, and discernment вЂ” are often tested during вЂunseasonalвЂ™ weather. Unanticipated transitions tend to remove clarity from our minds and replace it with doubt. The вЂњwind tunnelвЂќ effect that pulls the wind off of the lake and guides it in the space between the back of the house and the forest, has created a continuous roar for two straight nights.The unseasonal weather has resulted in seemingly erratic behavior among many birds and animals, if not some humans.

Pico Iyer The Art Of Stillness Transcript How To Make The

вЂ” Pico IyerInvesting time offline, on a consistent basis, is a practice that provides the inner peace, clarity, and wisdom we need to not only survive in this noisy world, but to thrive. Consequently, many are experiencing frustration, anxiety, stress, identity crisis and, sadly, even death as a result of the вЂњnoiseвЂќ that constantly permeates our global and individual psyche, day in and day out.You can only make sense of the online world by going offline and by getting the wisdom and emotional clarity to know how to make the best use of the Internet. Over the last decade, social influence has snowballed into a fast-paced, never-ending stream of data that most consume by default. A powerful resource for exchanging information and ideas, for creating impact, for creating change.