Being still

 Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the 20^th century was the drive to form questions within a scientific framework. Humanity made such progress in understanding the physical world that we tend to think the scientific paradigm when we talk of “understanding.”

But there are remarkable people who strike us in a completely different way. We are aware of their goodness or nobility of character. It’s a mysterious quality that doesn’t fit into a scientific framework, so perhaps we don’t understand them or their remarkable qualities in the way we usually speak of understanding.

But they impress us. Sometimes we are so impressed we want to be like them, to follow their example.

Here is the poet Kim Stafford, describing a person whose sense of peace spreads outward — is almost contagious:

 

To be so still, others are called

From strife to listen.

 

I have known a peacemaker like that. No scientific test would explain him.

• Source: Kim Stafford, Wild Honey, Tough Salt; Pasadena, Calif.: Red Hen Press, 2019. The line is from “Peace Warrior,” p. 40. For more on these remarkable personalities, see “The presence of a noble nature,” July 13, 2025.