LAW OF THREE (62) The Still Point

LAW OF THREE (62)

THE STILL POINT (1)

"One who sees inaction in action and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities." Bhagavad Gita (400 bc9

 

"At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,

Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,

Neither ascend nor decline. Except for the point, the sill point,

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance." T.S. Elliot

The still point brings time and space in a relationship with eternity, the third dimension of our experience.  In the Gita it is "the transcendental position'', free from the tensions between absolutes. Neither action nor inaction, at the point where the dance flows.

The still point is where all working surfaces meet (active-passive-neutral). It is where we reside: our home. When Thomas Keating was asked in one of his last interviews wether he was longing for home he answered: 'I wold like to think that I am already at home.'

In the method of Centering Prayer as taught by Thomas Keating our intention is to return to the still point by letting go of attachments to circling thoughts.  We offer an open invitation to the divine presence to join in the transcendental dance.  We center in the dot, in the still point.  Its nature is eternal because its center is everywhere.