Marta and Maria

1 June 2017

To meditate is to quiet one’s mind. Lay thoughts to one side. Leave all preoccupations behind. Not so much to ‘empty’ the mind, but to guard it, as Desert Fathers say.

A good analogy is raising above the clouds, after a take-off. You leave all stuff and noise behind. It is a struggle at first — the noise of the engine, the acceleration, the sequence of rapidly changing views left and right, the foggy stuff in the clouds; and then suddenly — peace and calm. The open blue sky. Not emptiness, just peace.

It is the same when you meditate. You leave all the noise and pollution behind, raise above the preoccupations of here and now, and start to contemplate. Reaching silence and calm is not emptiness, it is the beginning of something full. It is for us to start perceiving it, whether as spirit, God, love, or all of them at once.

Marta and Maria are not only different but also complementary. And at times they become one.