About a year ago, I
posted a quote by Os Guinness about solitude. I just recently read another very intriguing paragraph by Dallas Willard (in the Divine Conspiracy). What he says really hits me right now, because I haven't had much of this kind of time. Even when I do manage to create some solitude, my mind is often racing around, making sure I have all my future plans in order. I really needed to be reminded that I am not in control.
"[Solitude and silence] take the world off our shoulders for a time and interrupt our habit of constantly managing things, of being in control, or thinking we are. One of the greatest of spiritual attainments is the capacity to do nothing. Thus the Christian philosopher Pascal insightfully remarks, 'I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they are unable to stay quietly in their own room.'"
About a year ago, I posted a quote by Os Guinness about solitude. I just recently read another very intriguing paragraph by Dallas Willard (in the Divine Conspiracy). What he says really hits me right now, because I haven't had much of this kind of time. Even when I do manage to create some solitude, my mind is often racing around, making sure I have all my future plans in order. I really needed to be reminded that I am not in control.
i've been sensing things spiralling out of control lately, and I need to get out of the habit of even "thinking I am" in control ...this could be the answer
ReplyDeleteI am also reading D.C. right now and find it has given me a whole new refreshing perspective.
ReplyDeleteI remember my first extended time in solitude and silence, meditating on Psalms and the Lord's Prayer. It was so powerful and refreshing, but as I tried to return to it I found something inside me resisting it. The hardest thing for a disciple of Jesus to admit and overcome is that we love and enjoy our own self-worship, and the idolization of the body. That is the part of us that must die.
ReplyDeleteI'm just starting to come back to it after a long period of resistance. I'm starting to see that the feeling of resistances are normal, but not something to trust. Stick with it by being prayerful and trusting Jesus.
Sam - You are very right. It's hard to die to our self. Thanks for the encouragement. And thanks for the comment.
ReplyDelete