It's time to be STILL.
Old school wisdom, soulful stories, and other mindful and mystical stuff to explore inner life and enhance outer life.
“Stillness is the centered place between striving and squandering.” -Ben Katt
I’m a huge hype man for stillness.
Yes, because I teach stillness in meditation, write about stillness in my first book (The Way Home, available now!), and have explored stillness for a couple decades as a former ordained minister and perpetual student of religious, spiritual, and cultural wisdom and practice.
But there is a deeper reason. Because once upon a time I was devoured by the three-headed monster of achievement, perfectionism, and people-pleasing.
And it was stillness that brought me back to life.
You see, stillness is a superpower:
The most generative action emerges from contemplation.
The most fruitful outer movement results from inner reflection.
But our world has largely lost touch with this reality. In no small part because the screens that surround us so often scream reactionary hot takes and sales pitches, vapid commentary and productivity porn. Amidst all of this noise—which leaves us dehumanized and disengaged from life itself, and no doubt contributes to the increasing polarization and conflict we are witnessing around the world—we’ve forgotten how to get quiet. And it’s really effing up everything!
This is why I’m starting STILL. To curate a little corner of the internet and inbox space that reminds us to slow down, to listen, to be. To be human. To live fully here and now!
Drawing on wisdom teachings and soulful stories from across place and time, STILL is a space and a community to help you reclaim the ancient, innate art of going inward. Whether you consider yourself spiritual or religious or not. And especially if you are a bit irreverent, somewhat leery about woo-woo things, and can appreciate the occasional pop culture trivia callback.
And why does rediscovering stillness matter? Because cultivating inner life transforms outer life, individually and collectively. And there are a million reasons the world could use that right about now!
So, I invite you to be STILL… here.
Free subscribers receive:
All subscribers receive a free copy of my eBook, HOW TO MAKE YOUR MIND: The science and practice of unleashing calm, creativity, and happiness.
A soul-stirring weekly Sunday morning post. Often I’ll take a look at something written a long, long time ago—scripture, myth, poem, etc.—and distill its meaning for things we’re going through in our lives (or, at least mine!) today.
One Sunday a month (usually the last), the weekly post will arrive in your inbox as a curated COLLECTION of resources to support you on your inner journey that highlights books, podcasts, articles, and other curiosities that are inspiring me.
Paying subscribers receive:
The nourishing weekly posts mentioned above
Exclusive access (1-2x per month) to work-in-progress writing from what might be my next book!
The ability to comment on my public posts
Other awesome things TBD
The satisfaction of knowing your support is enabling me to keep writing and creating and doing things like being a hospice companion to the dying and sharing the gift of meditation with people in unexpected places.
Founders receive:
All of the awesome aforementioned stuff above
A HUGE thank you
Something cool in the mail from me!
As you can see, you’ve got some options… Whether you decide to stop by once in a while or read regularly, comment or share, I’m glad you’re here! I look forward to creating this space with you and hearing how being STILL together ripples out from our hearts into our relationships and communities.
If you find STILL to be meaningful and are able to support this endeavor financially, a HUGE THANK YOU for making this accessible for everybody and helping me do some of the things you’ll read about here, from writing to hospice companionship to sharing meditation in unlikely places and more.
Have a story to share? An inspiring passage to pass on? Feel free to reach out to me at benkatt@substack.com.
Great first post, Ben. I hope we can encourage others to think bigger and deeper about life!