December 2008

inspiration
Having, Being and Stillness
by Father Paul keenan
I
ha

ve a friend whose spiritual practice relies heavily on to get them up and running again.
affirmations. I ran into him the other day, and he was Stillness bestows those powers upon us all. So, here’s to
completely beside himself with joy. “I was waiting for the my much-excited friend at his bus stop. His stillness in the
bus,” he told me. “The sun was just coming up, a huge ball sun led to insight and exuberance, which he shared with me
of light on a glorious morning. I stood there, basking in its and I have shared with you. Stillness is contagious like that.
warmth, when suddenly the thought crossed my mind, ‘I feel Having caught it, we must now let it catch us, so that we
like a million dollars.’ Before I knew what hit me, another can, in turn, give it to the world.
thought rolled in: ‘I am a million dollars! I am a million dol-
lars that God is sending into the universe today to make it a Source: Excerpted from the late Father Paul Keenan’s column
better place.’ for SoulfulLiving.com. For information about his writings,
“All my life, I have thought about wealth as something including his new book, If You Want to Change Your Mind,
that I have, not as something that I am. Perhaps, if I thought You Have to Open Your Heart, visit FatherPaul.com.
of myself as wealth that God is sharing with the Universe, in-
stead of thinking of my wealth as something outside of me, I
would eliminate the awareness of separation between myself
and my wealth.”
8&-/&44.64*$
.64*$'03.&%*5"5*0/4
I could only advise my friend not to adopt his new insight
for the sake of getting more wealth, or he would create the
The Great Canvas Wale Song
separation once again. His excited musings started me on a
#KÚSO.FMBOEFS #KÚSO.FMBOEFS
8. 8.
train of thought about the difference between having and be-
ing. Can you have what you are not?
Most of us don’t see any connection between being
Silver Lake
Reflections
and having. It’s living out of who we are, not out of what we
)BOT(VTUBGTTPO
#KÚSO.FMBOEFS
8.
have, that makes life worthwhile. And, unless we focus on
8.
being, we can never really have.
The way in to being is through stillness. “Be still, and
Eden
know that I am God”—it is in meditation, in quiet walks in #KÚSO.FMBOEFS
Panpipe Dreams
the park, when standing in awe before a sunrise or a sunset,
8.
%PSV"QSFPUFTFJ
8.
and in the pause between two affirmations that there comes
the stillness that is the very heart and soul of who we are and
the place of encounter with God. It is the still point between
Dolphins
Cirrus
the sobs of a grieving parent. It is in the space between
#KÚSO.FMBOEFS
*/t%0t(0
8.
the canvas and the artist’s brush, in the space between two
8.
heartbeats. We hear it between two notes of music and be-
tween two clangs of a church bell.
Aquatica
In stillness, we join forces with the God of creation and
BEEJPT
declare that the world is good and very good. Like God, we
8.
are not daunted by the power of evil—we respect it, even as earthengarten
we go for its Achilles’ heel, much as an electrical repairper-
earthengarten
8JOEPWFS8BZt1BMN#FBDI(BSEFOTt'-
son handles downed wires carefully, knowing full well how FNBJMFHBSUFOPSEFST!BPMDPNtXFCTJUFXXXFBSUIFOHBSUFODPN
5FM5tPMM'SFFt'BY
December 2008 29
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44 | Page 45 | Page 46 | Page 47 | Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 | Page 56 | Page 57 | Page 58 | Page 59 | Page 60 | Page 61 | Page 62 | Page 63 | Page 64 | Page 65 | Page 66 | Page 67 | Page 68 | Page 69 | Page 70 | Page 71 | Page 72