This episode is an exploration of Psalm 46:10, interpreted as an expression of Christian nonduality. “Be still and know that I am God!”
This episode is an exploration of Psalm 46:10, interpreted as an expression of Christian nonduality. “Be still and know that I am God!”
“Be still and know that I am God!” That is Psalm 46:10. This is a well-known verse in the Bible for those of us who read the Bible from a nondual perspective. For that reason it would seem to be a natural text for me to speak about. But I have not done so thus far. That is because this verse is frequently taken out of context. If there is one thing that was drummed into me in seminary, it is that a text without a context is a pretext for a proof text. Proof texts are a misuse of scripture.
One has to treat scripture with care, carefully interpreting it in its literary and historical context, so as not to distort the text to make it say what you want it to say. Some people treat this verse as if it were found in the Upanishads and is an expression of Advaita Vedanta. It is not. This psalm is an expression of Hebraic monotheism, and has to be interpreted in that context. Having said that I believe that this verse was spoken by the psalmist as a prophetic utterance that points beyond monotheism to what I call unitive awareness. So I will interpret it in this way.
First of all we need to look at this verse in Psalm 46 in light of all the verses that comes before it. When we do this, we see that the context is a time of trouble. The first verse of this psalm is almost as famous as the tenth verse. It says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
I have read those words – especially the first part - at countless graveside services. The psalmist talks about natural disaster. He might be using these natural disasters as metaphors or he might be talking about real natural disasters. From what we read in the following words, he seems to be using them as metaphors for political and military upheaval. He says, “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.”
Then in the verse leading immediately up to our verse, he writes: “Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” He is clearly speaking in the context of war and proclaims that God brings peace.
This is timely today when the world is focused on the Russian war against Ukraine. The natural disaster images are also timely in this age when we are concerned about climate change and the increase of natural disasters. So this verse is speaking about what to do in times when our lives feel threatened by external forces. In this context, the psalmist proclaims: “Be still and know that I am God!”
What is important to understand about this verse is that the psalmist goes from talking about the theistic God in the third person to talking as God in the first person. This continues in the rest of the verse – which is normally left out - when the psalmist speaks in the Divine first person saying, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” He is speaking as God. In the Hebrew tradition this is prophetic speech. This is what I want to focus on.
This shift in consciousness from human to divine is extremely important to note. The shift from speaking as a little human being to speaking as the Eternal God is not just a literary device; it is spiritual consciousness. This phenomenon is not explored enough by commentators. The prophet-psalmist here goes from speaking as an individual self to speaking as a Divine Self. From speaking as human consciousness to speaking as divine consciousness. This is an example of what I call unitive awareness.
A while back a listener asked me if I had ever read the works of Joseph Benner and in particular his work entitled “The Impersonal Life.” He thought what I said sounded a lot like what this author said. I admitted I never had heard of him or read his books, but I would look him up. So I did. Joseph Benner was an American spiritual teacher who lived from 1872 to 1938. I read his book “The Impersonal Life.” It is written in the first person from the perspective of the Eternal Living Christ. He is speaking as Divine Awareness. His work came to be called The I AM teaching.
I don’t know about his other books, but in this book Benner was speaking in the same way as the biblical prophets spoke. He was speaking as God, or in this case as the Eternal Christ. Benner believed that this really was Christ speaking and he was just the conduit, just like the biblical prophets really believed that God was speaking through them. The biblical prophets proclaimed “Thus says the Lord!” or “the Word of the Lord came to me saying…” Then they would speak as God.
I see this as evidence of the Hebrew prophets speaking as Divine Awareness. It is the Hebrew equivalent of nondual awareness, but expressed within a theistic religious tradition. There were lots of prophets in biblical times. There were bands of roving prophets, like the one that King Saul was part of for a while. There were communities of prophets like Elijah’s and Elisha’s groups. They were known as the “sons of the prophets.” Only a tiny fraction of prophets ever wrote words that were included in the Bible.
These Spirit-inspired and Spirit-intoxicated people – both men and women, like Miriam and Deborah – were people who for periods of time were so united with God in their consciousness that they spoke from the perspective of God as God. That is what is happening in this verse when the psalmists declares, “Be still and know that I am God!” He was speaking about God in the third person and then shifts to speaking as God. This is very important because it means that according to the Bible regular humans can know divine awareness. It shows that what is called nondual awareness is at the heart of biblical revelation.
The problem is that most Christians don’t think it could happen to them today. They think this divine consciousness is something that happened thousands of years ago in a distant land. The truth is that this divine awareness is available to everyone at any time. That is why I think this verse is so important. I will add the caveat here that charismatic and Pentecostal Christians do believe in prophecy today. But in my experience what they are talking about is very different than what the Bible presents and very different than unitive awareness.
Now let’s talk about what this verse means. “Be still and know that I am God!” Be still. These are the same words spoken by Jesus to the storm on the Sea of Galilee. One wonders if Jesus was quoting this verse intentionally. A lot of people interpret this verse as an instruction to quiet one’s mind in meditation or contemplative prayer. Perhaps, but I have a different interpretation.
I don’t think the psalmist was thinking about quiet prayerful contemplation. I think that like all prophets he was in touch with the Spirit of God in us, the image of God in us, our True Self. It is like we are a tornado or a hurricane.
We recently had a tornado warning here in Florida, so tornadoes are on my mind. All the palm trees outside our apartment were bending and shaking. Then all of a sudden everything was completely calm as the low pressure cell was directly over us. We were in the eye of the storm. Humans are like what the Bible calls whirlwinds. There is silence at the center. Meditation does not create it; it is always there. It is no accident that the Biblical God so often appears in a whirlwind in scripture.
In the center of our being there is always a quiet place. When we find and abide in that quiet center, we are consciously in the presence of God. Like the story of Elijah in the cave. The winds came through the mountain, but it says that God was not in the whirlwind. Then there was a still small voice, also translated as the sound of sheer silence. And it says that God was in the silence.
God is in that silent center of us, no matter what is happening on the outside. No matter what is happening in our mind, the silence of God is present. Being still is just a matter of abiding in that silent center. You can try to get there with meditation if you want, but there is really nowhere to go. It is always here. It is simply a matter of shifting our focus and noticing it. Whether you quiet your mind is not as important as whether you are in your mind or not.
This is what the psalmist is talking about when he says: Be still. Abiding in that divine awareness we are one with God. There is no separation between us and God. We are one with God. “Be still and know that I am God!” We are God to put it crudely. Not in the theistic sense that humans beings are the theistic deity; that is idolatry and pride. But in the unitive sense ultimately there is only one reality and that reality is God. At times of unitive awareness we cannot tell where we top and God begins! Meister Eckhart said “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.”
Theists hear statements like that and hear heresy. But this is what the psalmist and the prophets experienced. It is the heart of biblical inspiration and prophetic revelation. This is not just for bearded Hebrews thousands of years ago living in the Middle East. It is the natural state of all humans. It is the Garden of Eden. It is simply a matter of abiding in that unitive awareness of union with God. That is what is being expressed when this psalm says, “Be still and know that I am God!”