VIGNETTES…

Poets can combine the most ordinary words in fresh combinations. Sometimes these lines can give us a life-time of food for fruitful meditation.

For me, one of those poetic lines is, “We must be still, and still moving”.  This line comes from the poet, T.S. Elliot, in his poems called “The Four Quartets”.  He says that the two important aspects of life must be kept together, like male and female, Yin and Yang.

First we must be still. Running frantically with our tongues hanging out is the surest way to miss life and have an early heart attack.  We may keep busy and noisy on the surface of our lives just to avoid listeningto the deeper and truer voices within.  BUt we must still, if we are to weigh, ponder, learn and grow. The philosopher Niietzche well said”Believe me Hullabaloo, the greatest events are not our noisiest, but our stillest hours.”

But, even if we learned to be still, this would only be half of life’s mystery. We are to be still and still moving.  And we must be both at the same time.  WE must be still moving- into new ideas, new times, new relationships, new friends, taking new risks.  Try to level off is really to slide down hill.  Stagnation leads to disintegration, which lead to spiritual death.  LIFE DOESN’T STAND STILL. Even God is on the side of renewal, the new creation.

If we try to be just”still”, we may go to sleep.  If we try just to keep forever running, we may go mad.  Actually, we are called to do both. WE MUST BE STILL AND STILL MOVING.