“True Stillness: The Amygdala at Peace”
Photograph by John Diamond, M.D.
Our word stillness is from the root STA, to stand, to stay. Hence, for instance, steadfast.
We think of stillness as being without movement. But it is not the absence of movement, per se, but the style of movement which can be called still. I think of the dancer so surrendered to the soul of the music that his performance is an infinity of moments of utter stillness.
It is not whether there is movement or not – but the reason.
Stillness is when there is no fear – no need at all to defend or escape, or be frozen in fear. It is when the amygdala is at peace.
It is the state of Belovedness: I am in her Womb of Love. There is Stillness.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton writes of “the stillness of a deep soul.”
To me, Stillness is Knowing the depth of her Soul – and so the Stillness that is my Soul.
