What is Hesychasm? (The art of stillness)
Hesychasm comes from the Greek words ἡσυχία and ἡσυχάζω. Together they mean “to keep stillness.” It is practiced by people all over the world, including monks from many traditions. Keeping stillness takes time and effort. You might say that stillness is built into daily life all the time…during those times where we are doing nothing. But that depends. When times are still, ask yourself, “Am I still?” "Or, “Am I aware that I am still?” And if so, “How do I feel bout this stillness?” Right now, much of my stillness (honest reporting!) is filled with Alto’s Discovery, a mindless sand boarding game app that’s really fun (and no, I am not being paid by them to say this). Or, I read articles, or check emails, or listen to that podcast I have bean meaning to get to. Or I work on one of these blog entries! Truth is, I am rarely ever…STILL. Recently, I have been checking out a book called “How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy” by Jenny Odell. Doug Banister, my friend, suggested I read it during the Lenten season. It’s fascinating. Odell says…“Our very idea of productivity is premised on the idea of producing something new, whereas we do not tend to see maintenance and care as productive in the same way.” Tending to soul matters of self love and acceptance (a trademark of A.A.I.T. methodologies), is what makes us alive and present, but in a culture of FOMO, we might just experience anxiety or even depression if we practice stillness (absence). This would be the ironic outcome of all the “virtual connectivity” we have at our fingertips. But in light of recent events (COVID-19), the whole world seems to be rethinking this. Whether from fear of catching the virus, or having the virus, or worrying about a loved one, we are all, in some way, thinking about what it looks like to slow down and separate ourselves a bit.
A lot of our day is now filled with a choice of “What do we do with the sudden availability of private moments?” Note: I am writing this in the solid admission that I have three little kids below the age of ten, so a lot of my day is filled with a bee like energy I don’t know what to do with!
Hesychasm, a long standing tradition, has always been asking us what are we doing with the stillness all around us. Or rather, it asks us to create space that is filled with nothing but breath. Just the quiet wind of the day. If you study the linguistics of “wind,” you can find some fascinating discoveries of human consciousness on the matter. For example, in Hebrew, the word for wind is רוּחַ (ruach).
This has many meanings, the chief of which is “breath.” Now, it can mean other things too. Like, the air, or a force (hurricane comes to mind). Or, and this is fascinating, it also means, Spirit. As in, Lady Holy Spirit. It’s all related. Divine breath, world breath and our own breath…it’s all integrated. This is one of the reasons why all religious meditation starts with…wind.
When we slow down and breathe, and take in the moment, we begin to tap into a larger reality of existence that teaches us, moving us deeper into TRUE BEING.
This in essence is the art of hesychasm (stillness).