be still and know God | on the nature of stillness

"Be still
and know God"

is a beloved line from Psalms (46:10).

1.
Following are few meditative rendering based on mystical dimensions:

. Be still
and enter God consciousness.

. Be still
and know God alone IS.

. Be still
and enter the Divine stream.

. Let go unreal
and know the Real.

. Remove veils
and know You are That.

. Remove ignorance,
become Gnosis.

. Enter singularity
and realize oneness.

. Enter oneness
and realize supreme state.

. Be still like a calm lake surface in a full moon night
and let the Divine Face be revealed.
You Art That.
You are an unique Name of the Divine.
You are an unique Face of Beloved.
Wheresoever you turn, the Countenance IS.
Be still and realize within and without.

2.

"Be still and know God" has so many fascinating dimension to it, but the most obvious is becoming still, to have a stillness of mind or what Buddha called mindfulness state - is spelled out here explicitly as the first step for realization, for divine gnosis. Thus Psalm being part of a revelation of western spiritual tradition interestingly carries the same seed of what eastern spiritual tradition emphasize so much: meditation. (Although i mention Psalm being part of western spiritual tradition or thats how its framed in modern discourse, all spiritual traditions belong to whole of humanity where divisions between east and west don't exist. Worth mentioning here, a very significant line from Quran: 'Light of God ... is neither of the east nor of the west' (surah al Nur, the Light chapter of Quran).

3.
Master guide in the sufi path, his holiness Sidi Said al-Jamal in this book, 'He Who Knows Himself Knows His Lord' (Maan 'araf nafsahu 'araf Rabbahu) talks on the nature of this very stillness and its reality that is at the heart of the Psalm verse. I quote:

Inside the heart, (divine) wisdom is like candle in a house that has five doors. if the doors are shut, the candle will remain luminous, illuminating the house with its light, but if the five doors open, then the candle is blown out and the house become dark.

Wisdom is like this inside the heart with the five senses. If the person incline towards hearing sounds, and seeing what is visible, and smelling what has a fragrance, and touching what can be touched, and tasting what can be tasted, then wisdom hides and light is shut out and the heart is darkened (veiled).

But if the traveller turns away from sensory things with the five senses by practicing spiritual retreats and seclusion away from people (meditational practices) and if he discharge all the selfish low desires, then the springs of wisdom will gush forth out of his heart and on his tongue.

This is the path of opposing all the habitual habits which people have been afflicted with. If one does not tear these habitual habits from himself or herself, then the common patterns (of response, of relating to everyday reality) will be not be torn from him. You will not attain the high levels unless you turn away from the creation like a madman. As long as an iota of inclination (obsession, attachment, addiction) towards people remains in your heart more than your inclination towards your Beloved and your Goal, then you will not attain these high degrees.

[>] selection only. you may obtain the valuable manual of sufi path, 'He Who Knows Himself Knows His Lord' from Sufi Gifts.

. Tariqa Shadhuliyya
. Shadhiliyya Teachings
. Teachings in the Path
. Prophet Muhammad's meditation
. Quranic verses on meditation
. Sufi Meditation