The 27th Step on John’s Ladder, is STILLNESS. St. John writes that stillness of the body is the accurate knowledge and management of one’s feelings and perceptions. Stillness of soul is the accurate knowledge of one’s thoughts and is an unassailable mind.

Stillness is a state of being all Christians are called to acquire in the presence of God. Those who philosophize about God are full of thoughts and an abundance of distractions. Those who stand in God’s presence are silenced. The former consider the theory of God, but the latter know Him personally as Lord, Master, Father and Friend. It should therefore not take us by surprise that stillness is the calling of every Christian, for we are all called to know and love God, and to stand before Him with awe, reverence and humility.

When someone begins to work toward acquiring inward stillness, he must spend time in solitude, avoiding noisiness and distraction whenever possible. In solitude he seeks union with God through prayer: Stillness is worshipping God unceasingly and waiting on Him.

The fruit of many years of true prayer is an inward stillness that is no longer troubled by noisiness and external distractions. St. John says that the start of stillness is the rejection of all noisiness as something that will trouble the depths of the soul. The final point is when one has no longer a fear of noisy disturbance, when one is immune to it.

I truly believe that the constant and continuous distraction that our modern society presents to us through radio, television and social media, makes it very difficult to achieve stillness. Do you ever drive your car without the radio on? Do you always have a radio or television playing in your home when you are there?

It truly seems that we can only encounter God in stillness!