good art is the sensuous presentation of those ideas which matter most to the proper functioning of our souls – and yet which we are most inclined to forget, event though they are the basis for our capacity for contentment and virtue*
Alain de Botton

Though so much else is in motion in the mind and the senses the hidden heart never loses sight of us. If we can ever feel lost or overwhelmed, all we have to do is become still and listen ins to our heart and we will soon find exactly where we are.**
John O’Donohue

There’s a story about the Older Testament prophet Elijah, who, having lost direction and forgetting what he had to do, wanders his way to the mountain of God and hides in a cave.

God finds Elijah there and promises to be present to the struggling messenger.

There ensues an earthquake, storm-wind, and fire, but he doesn’t recognise God in any of these.

Then follows a sheer, or thin, silence and when the prophet exits the cave there’s God waiting to recommission him.

We all lose our way, but when we’re tempted to want something dramatic to find our bearings and what it is we must do, the best way is to remember to fall into silence so that we might hear the beating of our own heart.

It is about discovering and living all that we are intended to be, with awe and wonder.^

*From Alain de Botton’s Religion for Atheists;
**From John O’Donohue’s Benedictus;

^From Sunil Raheja’s Dancing with Wisdom.