There is only one centre

Centre of our Being by John Main OSB, Meditatio Talks Series 2018 D 

I want to try to put before you a general idea of what meditation is about. Basically, the idea of meditation is a way of coming to your own centre, coming to the foundation of your own being, and remaining there still, silent, attentive. And meditation is in essence a way of learning to become awake, to be alive, and to be still.

A lot of people looking – if some people came into the room for example where we are meditating in a few moments and saw everybody sitting still – they might think that we’re all having a little snooze or something of this kind. But it’s the stillness of meditation that leads you forward to that state of wakefulness, that sense of being completely alive, because you are in harmony – harmony with
yourself, and gradually a harmony with the whole of creation. The experience of meditation is just as though you were in resonance with all life.

But the way to that resonance, the way to that wakefulness, is silence and stillness. And this is quite a challenge for people of our time, because most of us have very little experience of silence.

Silence can be terribly threatening to people in the culture that we live in, and you have to get used to that silence. That’s why the way of meditation is a way of learning to say a word, interiorly, in your heart. And when we meditate in a few moments’ time what each of us has to try to do to the best of our ability, as faithfully and as sincerely as we can, is just to recite a single word. The word I
recommend you to recite is the Aramaic word maranatha. And to recite it silently, without moving your lips, in your heart, deep in your being, Ma-ra-na-tha. And the purpose of that recitation and repetition is, as it were, to launch you into the silence, re-establish contact with your centre.

The wonderful thing we discover is that there is only one centre, and that centre is everywhere. Meditation is the way of being linked to our own centre, and because we are rooted in ourselves, we find our place in the universe, and we find the centre of the universe. We find God. And the truly spiritual man or a woman is the person who is so rooted in themselves, but they are able to be in harmony with anyone and everyone. That is the whole purpose of this spiritual journey: To enter into that profound harmony with yourself, with your neighbour, with the universe, with God.