Hello my friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks.
Welcome back to yet another instalment of the Calm Beneath the Storm.
Over the past few days we've been exploring the deeper waters beneath the storms of life.
We noticed the waves at the surface.
We practised descending beneath them.
And yesterday we sensed the deeper current that quietly carries us.
Today we explore something that many people find both beautiful and unfamiliar.
And this is something that I'm calling the silence of the deep.
Let's begin though by settling our bodies again.
Allow yourself to sit comfortably,
Let the shoulders soften.
Let the hands rest gently.
Take a slow breath in.
And a slow breath out.
And just allow your breathing to become easy and natural.
And rest.
In the now.
Imagine for a moment being beneath the ocean's surface.
Above you,
Waves may still be moving.
Wind may still be passing across the sea.
But here,
Deeper down,
The water is quieter and stiller.
Sound fades.
Movement slows.
The deeper you go,
The more peaceful the water becomes.
In the story of the prophet Elijah,
In the first book of Kings,
Elijah waits for God to appear.
First there's a powerful wind,
Then an earthquake,
Then a fire.
But the story tells us that God wasn't in the powerful wind,
Or in the earthquake,
Or in the fire.
God wasn't to be found in those dramatic events.
Instead,
God was encountered in what the text calls a sound of sheer silence.
Now this may seem surprising,
Because we often expect that encountering God should feel dramatic or overwhelming somehow.
But many people throughout the spiritual traditions have discovered something quieter.
That God is often recognised in stillness.
In silence.
In the gentle awareness that remains when the noise settles.
So for the next few minutes,
We practice entering that silence together.
Not forcing it,
Not trying to manufacture a particular experience,
But simply allowing quiet space to open.
I invite you to bring your attention to your breathing.
Breathing in and out.
And now allow your awareness to rest.
If thoughts appear,
Just simply notice them,
Like small ripples on the surface of that water.
Just let them go.
You don't need to follow them.
Just let them pass.
Notice the space between those thoughts,
Even if it only lasts for a moment.
Just that small opening of quiet.
And when they arise,
Rest gently in them.
In a moment,
We're going to share about two minutes of simple silence together.
And in that time,
There's nothing you need to achieve or force or have created.
Just sit quietly,
Breathing softly,
Allowing yourself to rest in the deeper stillness beneath the surface.
And now just bring your attention back to your breathing.
Breathing in,
Out.
Notice the body again.
The room around you.
The surface beneath you.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes back to full awareness.
And as you continue through your day today,
Remember that silence isn't emptiness.
It's the quiet place where the soul becomes aware of God.
And sometimes all it takes is a few moments of stillness.
Just a couple of short minutes to rediscover that deeper presence.
May the grace,
Peace and love of that stillness and depth go with you into your day today and always.
Amen.
Until tomorrow,
Peace be with you.
