The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVII: On Stillness of Mind and Body, Part V

There is a beautiful movement created in the heart by St. John’s writing; it is almost a dance. We move back-and-forth with St. John by simultaneously reflecting upon the beauty of silence and stillness and the intimacy that we experience with God through it - while also being shown what the loss of the silence does to us.

The silence of which St. John speaks is not just the absence of noise, but rather the presence of a love and life that transcends our understanding. It can only be experienced. Therefore, St. John holds out before us the intimacy for which our our hearts long and that can be found in the silence while also warning us of the dangers and the pitfalls that allow this great gift to slip through our fingers.

The more we become attentive to the interior life, the more we realize how easily we can be distracted; how our thoughts and feelings can be manipulated either by our own appetites or by demonic provocation. It has been said that “Hurry destroys both poets and Saints“. The frenetic activity that surrounds us agitates and fragments the mind and the heart. To live in such a state for a long period of time dulls one’s sensibilities not only to the finer things of life but to God himself. 

Thus, the preliminary task John tell us is disengagement from all affairs, whether reasonable or senseless. Both can be equally distracting to us. In fact, it’s often easier for us to recognize the inane things to which we direct our attention then it is to see how the responsibilities and demands that we have set for ourselves places us on a never-ending treadmill of activity of mind and body. 

And so let us simplify our lives. It does not take long for us to realize the gains of doing so. We begin to taste, perhaps for the first time, the sweetness of those things that endure.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:04:54 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 227, #41

 

00:37:54 David: OBS software?

 

00:40:41 Leilani Nemeroff: True, I stopped watching tv. It’s amazing how annoying it is when you’re exposed.

 

00:41:22 Cindy Moran: Most major movie trailers will have a cut every second.

 

00:43:15 Callie Eisenbrandt: Father- sometimes I feel guilty turning to the Jesus prayer when I'm feeling distracted or off track, like my mind isn't where it needs to be to be saying the prayer

 

00:44:16 Leilani Nemeroff: Yes, pronounced correctly!

 

00:44:26 Cindy Moran: The term for what you describe is called "jump cut"

 

00:44:41 Dave Warner (AL): Reacted to "The term for what yo..." with 👍

 

00:45:28 David: Something interest on OBS. We do educational conferences and if more than 15 seconds of silence passes we loose 15-20% of attendants. AHAD apparently has become a norm

 

00:45:32 Rebecca Thérèse: People are advised that their film clips should be no longer than 3 seconds otherwise people lose attention

 

00:50:11 Anthony: There's an Orthodox priest, Fr. Barnabas Powell, who says "you are not your thoughts." That really good when thoughts waylay a person like hoodlums.

 

00:50:38 David: I was taught to see it as waves coming in from the shore for the Jesus Prayer which really helps. It does have a soothing repetition that is similiar.

 

00:55:35 Maureen Cunningham: Human doing not being

 

00:55:37 Lori Hatala: Sometimes when saying the Jesus prayer I must say it slowly and loudly when having distracting thoughts until they subside.

 

00:57:31 Dave Warner (AL): Silence is also the domain of software programmers.

 

00:58:23 Anthony: In Lercara Friddi, Sicily the town was so silent in siesta that I could hear the pigeons cooing.

 

01:05:34 Jennifer Ahearn: Ineffable ‘internal journey’

 

01:07:34 David: God calls us by name the devil by our sin. We are not defined by our faults

 

01:08:43 Cindy Moran: I wrote in my Bible when I was 15 yrs old: "Even in my biggest mistake, I am not a mistake"

 

01:12:28 Kate : I find that the time I am most vulnerable to distraction is after receiving Holy Communion.  Sometimes the Jesus Prayer is the only thing I can grasp hold of, so as not to be swept away by the distractions.  It is quite a battle sometimes.

 

01:18:59 Rebecca Thérèse: Sometimes the parking lot is more conducive to prayer after communion than the church

 

01:19:09 Jacqulyn: Wow! 15 minutes... bring it on! :-)

 

01:19:23 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing keep you in prayer Amen

 

01:19:37 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!

 

01:19:38 Jennifer Ahearn: Thank you

 

01:19:38 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father very inspiring session!

 

01:19:41 David: Thank you father!

 

01:19:51 Leilani Nemeroff: Thank you

 

01:19:51 Dave Warner (AL): Thank you Father - what a Blessing!

 

01:19:54 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂