Roger Harty: Stillness Reigns Supreme

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THERE are three things about advice that are very important.

• You have the choice to take the advice or not.

• Even if you take the advice it is of no use if you don’t apply it.

• It is often very important to assess who is giving us the advice.

Well the advice that I am giving to you now comes from mouth of that supreme authority Jesus Christ when He said “Be still and know that I Am God”

The benefit of this advice can only be experienced when it is applied, so just like the Nike advert J.D.I. Just Do It.

Again, it is sometimes best to look to nature in order to see things demonstrated at their best.

Take a hurricane for example. In the eye of the hurricane there is calm and stillness even though the hurricane is causing chaos and devastation all around it.

This symbol of the hurricane is a great metaphor for times when there is turmoil in our lives. Just like the hurricane it is a relief to know that there exists a place of calm within us especially when we feel overwhelmed by stressful situations.

Careful use of our breath and connection with stillness within gives us 24/7 access to this place of calm just like the hurricane.

What a wonderful feeling it is to know that this place exists for every human being.

Another great example is that of Napoleon. In times of battle he was regarded as a great soldier killing many of his foes while astride his trusty white Arabian mount Marengo (which by-the-way was purchased in Buttevant fair in Cork circa 1810).

However it was only when Napoleon went to the hills surrounding the battlefields that Napoleon became a true General. These hills provided the stillness away from the battlefield that he could observe the true dimensions of what was going on below.

Through this stillness and observation he achieved his genius often beating armies with a much larger troop number by applying his battlefield tactics.

For instance he could wipe out an army of 60,000 soldiers with only 35,000 of his own troops.

He would send 10,000 down the right flank, 10,000 down the left flank and 10,000 down the middle.

The battle would commence but in the meantime he would send 5,000 horse soldiers to circumvent around the back.

This would come as a major surprise to the enemy who were unable to turn around their heavy artillery in tough rain-sodden weather conditions which resulted in inevitable defeat.

Using these systems of war tactics Napoleon went on to conquer France and much of mainland Europe becoming Emperor from 1804 – 1814.

This again is another metaphor of how stillness in our lives can help us to overcome the most difficult of circumstances even when the odds are stacked against us.

• Next week I am going to write about — The Power of observation

P.S. I had the great experience with my son of visiting the battlefield of Waterloo in June 2015 in recognition of the 200th anniversary of that momentous battle. Over 60,000 troops perished in one day (many of them Irish!) which to me really depicts the horrors of warfare.

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