There are 30 steps in St. John's ladder leading to salvation, spiritual perfection and union with God. In the previous 9 articles we have examined the first 26 steps of the ladder. I suggest to those who are interested that most of the earlier articles are available on the Istocnik website (Issues: 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59).

Step 27: On Holy Stillness of Body and Soul At the beginning of the 27th step St. John writes: "We are like bought slaves under contract to unholy passions; we, therefore, know to some extent the whims, ways, will and wiles of the spirits that rule over our poor souls. But there are others who through the operation of the Holy Spirit, and by reason of their liberation from those spirits, are enlightened as to their tricks. The former, being in a painful state of sickness, can only guess about the relief which would come with good health?"

Early in one's spiritual life the soul is heavily embroiled in struggles because the passions are deeply rooted in the soul. The "liberation" from these passions and the "relief" that St. John speaks of is "stillness". Stillness is peace in the soul and it is the reward won from much spiritual warfare. From the outset we all desire peace but our hearts are not clean and so we must struggle with our passions and sins in order to cleanse our hearts so that we may attain peace - the absence of struggle - Holy Stillness.

This is no easy task and it takes an experienced and courageous spiritual warrior (often considerable time) to come to know his own heart well enough to recognize the threats, understand how to fight them and further to guard against them. This is a source of great pain and frustration in the beginning for it means living without peace in a constant battle in order to attain peace and stillness. An unclean heart, however, cannot experience peace.

St. John explains: "Stillness of the body is the knowledge and composure of the habits and feelings. And stillness of soul is the knowledge of one's thoughts and an inviolable mind." We must consider the whole, the body and the mind (or soul). It is not possible to achieve well-being in the one without the other, for the body houses the soul, contains it and shelters it. St. John advises us: "The beginning of stillness is to throw off all noise as disturbing for the depth (of the soul). And the end of it is not to fear disturbances but to remain insensible to them. He, who in actually going out does not go out, is gentle and wholly a house of love. He is not easily moved to speech, and he cannot be moved to anger."

Is it even possible for us, in our everyday lives full of the noise of electronics and idle talk and traffic, to understand the stillness of body and soul of which St. John speaks? At every turn, there is distraction and temptation to speak without need or in haste, to feel or speak out in anger, to give in to all the passions that are the enemy of peace. We must not give up, for St. John assures us that if we persevere we can reach a state wherein the disturbances of this world will no longer affect us. This is only possible if we are willing to strive for it, but it is worth the struggle. When we first embark on the spiritual journey, most of us are unaware of the lack of peace in our souls or the degree of disturbance around us. It is something that cannot be fully appreciated unless it is experienced. Those of you who wear corrective lenses for your vision will understand me when I say that, until I put on my first pair of glasses and saw for the first time how poor my vision really was, I did not realize how much I was missing. In the same way, without experiencing stillness of the body and soul, one cannot comprehend the divine sweetness of such peace.

"The noetic hosts unite in worship with him whose soul is quiet, and dwell lovingly with him."

The promise of such spiritual jewels is enticing but do not forget that the ladder leading to spiritual heights must be taken one step at a time. We cannot leap forward skipping over some of the steps in a mad race to the finish. St. John warns us that there is danger: "He who is sick in soul from some passion and attempts stillness is like a man who has jumped from a ship into the sea and thinks that he will reach the shore safely on a plank." As I have stated, many are unaware of the degree of disturbance and the lack of peace in the world around them or within their own heart. Just as the vision problem exists before we try on corrective lenses for the first time and become aware of it, the lack of peace in our lives is a reality even if we do not perceive it. In fact, the world around us lacks peace because we do not have peace within us. Initially, when we try to enter the heart, confront our passions, and shut out all the disturbances of the external world, we may become surprised and frightened by the lack of peace we find there. This should not discourage us. If anything, we should embrace the struggle with even greater zeal so that we may reap the reward.

"He who has attained to stillness has penetrated to the very depth of the mysteries, but he would never have descended into the deep unless he had first seen the waves and the evil spirits."

I remember what it was like for me when I began my spiritual awakening. I cried almost incessantly during every liturgy. A kind old woman in our church came up to me at the end of the service one day and put her arms around me and asked me what was wrong. She assumed that something terrible had happened. The contrary was actually true. I could not express that the pain I was feeling was from looking into my own soul. Often it is through pain that we begin to feel the soul and by the same painful recognition of our passions and weaknesses that we are able to nurture, heal and guard the soul. We know that we are on our way when we begin to identify threats to our spiritual peace in our everyday life and understand how to avoid these. By the same token, it is not as simple as just running away from everything and everyone. The idea is not to hide but to pursue the situations, activities, and relationships that nurture the soul. This is why St. John describes the practitioner of stillness as "one who flees all men, though without hatred?he does not want to be hindered from partaking of the sweetness of God."

This is, of course, the most important and relevant point of the spiritual journey. The purpose for all this and our motivation for seeking stillness is not some selfish desire for peace; rather it is "out of delight and a thirst for the love and sweetness of God". St. John warns us: "He who has not yet known God is unfit for stillness". "Stillness is unceasing worship and waiting upon God"

Remember always to seek the help and guidance of one who is more experienced in the spiritual journey. This is not an easy path and as with each of the earlier steps, it will take some time to master.

"Bring out the staff of patience, and the dogs will soon stop their insolence. Patience is an unbroken labour of the soul which is never shaken by deserved or undeserved blows. The patient man is a faultless worker, who turns his faults into victories. Patience is the limitation of suffering that is accepted day by day. Patience lays aside all excuses and all attention to herself. The worker needs patience more than his food, because the one brings him a crown, while the other may bring ruin."

As with every step on St. John's Ladder, this step is preparation for the next, which is Step 28, "On holy and blessed prayer, the mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer". This is a very important and high step for it discusses how one should pray to achieve union with God. This step and the two remaining steps that follow it will be covered in an upcoming issue of Istocnik. Until then may you have a blessed journey and may the Resurrection of our Lord bring joy and peace to your heart!