The Wisdom of Stability

June 1, 2010
In contemporary culture, staying putactively maintaining stabilityis often looked down upon. Stability is the antithesis, according to this viewpoint, of progress and innovation. Wilson-Hartgrove disagrees and sets out to persuade his readers to reconsider their busy lifestyles. He suggests that by paying attention, we can recover the wisdom of stability. Thus, he refers back to the wisdom literature of various cultures, from Lao-tzu and the Bible to the desert monastics and Thomas Merton. He refers to specific traditions, such as Benedictine spirituality, while at the same time insisting that stability can be looked on as a craft, as a rhythm to fall intoand something that can be learned by anyone. To practice stability, he writes, is to learn to love both a place and its people. He comments on lessons he has learned from the Bible as well as stories shared by family members, friends, and colleagues and concludes with a series of quotations on stability from famous saints and scholars, including Augustine of Hippo, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Sister Joan Chittister. An appealing combination of personal experience and reflection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)