Many of us live in a culture that centers work, achievement, and the fulfillment of unending desires. Such a culture seems to prevent us from experiencing rest. At its most dangerous, our immersion in this culture can make us forget what rest is altogether. Many of us know that we are in need of rest, but can’t identify how to enter into it, or what it should look like when it happens.
Below is a proposition – a way of thinking about what rest might be. The journey toward rest is ongoing, and so this description will continue to be worked out as we move closer and closer to our goal: an ongoing experience of rest of the soul.
Rest is a function of feeling safe – such that our guard may come down and our entire being may become available to rest.
Rest is a function of trust – that the world will continue without us having to concern ourselves, such that we may step away from our work and worries, and come to rest.
Rest is a function of peace – within ourselves and in relationship to the world around us, such that we may be free from the warring tendencies within and around us and become ready to rest.
Rest is a function of experiencing generosity, gentleness, and kindness – such that we may put aside the responsibility of being the only one who can fulfill our needs, and receive rest.
Rest is an experience of completeness, ease, and release.
Rest is a pathway to joy, a pervasive feeling of wellbeing, such that we begin to reorder our lives on behalf of rest.
Rest allows for an interruption of the daily rhythms we (often unwittingly) inhabit, a recognition of our inherent value, and the revealing of a more accurate vision of our relationship to ourselves and the world around us.
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