"The Power of Stillness: How to Build Inner Strength and Stay Centered in a Chaotic World"

 

Ah, young seekers, gather round. You are on the cusp of understanding something profound, something that, if you grasp it, will change the way you see the world forever. So, listen closely, for this isn't the kind of wisdom you find in your textbooks, but something much older, deeper, and more powerful. 

Imagine life as an ancient theater where the same timeless drama has unfolded since the beginning of time.  But here's the secret: it’s always the same play, always the same drama, though the faces of the actors change. The characters' names change with every generation, and the costumes are different, but the story, themes, and struggles remain the same. Birth, death, love, hate, joy, sorrow, victory, defeat… on and on. The drama doesn’t end. It never truly does. 

Now, in this world, in this third-dimensional existence, we live caught between the forces of duality—the dance of opposites. Right and wrong, light and dark, success and failure, pleasure and pain. These forces create a kind of vibration, like waves on the surface of a pond. You can feel and see them, but you are not the waves. You are something deeper, something beyond all of this.

When you live through the mind, through thoughts and judgments, you become caught in this endless cycle. Think of it like a tennis match. The ball is hit back and forth from one side of the court to the other, and you are watching it, completely absorbed in the game. 

Your mind is like the eyes of the player, following the ball from one side to the other—right to wrong, good to bad, up and down. You become so fixated on the ball that you forget the most important thing: there is a space, a still point, between the sides of the court. 

That space is the net, the silent center that doesn’t move, no matter how fast the ball bounces. It doesn’t judge the game. It doesn’t cheer for one side or the other. "It simply is." And if you are still enough, aware enough, you can feel that net within you. It’s the part of you that doesn't get lost in the drama. The part that observes without attachment, the part that remains untouched by the forces of duality.

This is the key: find the center. 

The mind will always pull you into the pendulum swing of opposites. It will try to convince you that you are either this or that, but here’s the truth: you are neither. You are the one who is watching, the one who is. Not "I am this" or "I am that," but simply, "I am." 

This state of being—of pure awareness, of stillness in essence—has always been and will always be untouched by the fleeting dramas of life. When you touch that space, you begin to see through the illusion. The struggle between right and wrong and good and evil loses its importance. You start to realize that all of it is simply part of the great unfolding, the play of the cosmos, and you are no longer trapped in the story.

You might ask, "How do we find that stillness? How do we become the net instead of the ball, always tossed around by life's forces." And I’ll tell you this: "Simply practice."

Finding stillness is like training a muscle. At first, it feels weak, like it’s not even there. But each time you return to it, you grow stronger, grounding yourself deeper. Each moment of stillness adds another layer of strength, like stones building a solid foundation.

It’s like lifting weights—not in a gym, but in the quiet of your own being. At first, the weight feels heavy, and you may doubt you can carry it. But with consistent practice, it lightens. You build endurance, strengthening your ability to hold the center, no matter how the world swings around you.

Don’t rush. Don’t expect it to happen overnight. Like any skill, it takes time to develop. But you grow each time you step back from the pendulum swing of right and wrong, good and bad. The net within you becomes firmer and more resilient. And one day, you’ll realize—you’re not just watching the game; you "are" the still, unmoving center that holds everything together.

Trust the process. The more you practice, the more you’ll see—the net was never outside you. It’s always been there, waiting for you to discover it. 

It doesn’t come from thinking harder or forcing peace. It arises from moments of stillness, where you simply observe your thoughts, emotions, and actions without becoming attached to them. Like the net, you must learn to remain unmoved, no matter how the world may rage around you.

So, remember the net the next time you find yourself caught up in the drama. Remember the center. You are not the tennis ball. You are the one who watches the game with perfect stillness. 

Ultimately, it’s not about choosing a side in the drama of life—it’s about realizing that you are the screen, the space in which the drama unfolds. And that space is infinite, boundless, and eternal. "You are that."

Do not be fooled by the noise and chaos of the world. Find the quiet within; in that quiet, you will experience yourself as the whole of existence.

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