“Let Stillness be the Criterion for Assessing the Value of Everything.”
These words of the fourth-century desert father, Evagrius, will serve to highlight this day of prayer and renewal led by Martin Laird, author of Into the Silent Land and A Sunlit Absence. Emphasizing one of the central paradoxes of the spiritual life, the Silence we seek is already shining out our eyes.
Laird will focus on some of the more challenging aspects of the liberating surrender to the depths of the present moment, such as distractions, whether they be distractions of old pain, with their life-long refrains, or the superficial twitter of the habitually distracted mind. When met with stillness instead of inner commentary, these trials offer precious opportunities to deepen our contemplative practice and slowly teach us that what we would rather sweep under the rug of our pain is a more effective teacher than floating around on clouds of bliss.
