the art of achieving stillness

'I feel that art has something to do with achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.' 

- Saul Bellow
 

I've been contemplating this quote lately. It summons up with so few, well-chosen words, something, that is very hard to describe.: The art of making art. - Or is he - more exactly - describing what happens before you actually make the art? Is this stillness, the prayer and the attention, what it takes  - requires - to lead you to that magical place, where you can meet the muse and be granted inspiration?

I also find, that it describes what happens, when you study Nature, and everything that is living around us. When you pay attention to how twilight enhances the blues, when you notice how the light shines through a leaf, and when you become aware of how leaves divides and arranges the light into beams - then it can happen! The stillness and the attention combines - the prayer evolves as if by itself. Maybe not in words, but in the feeling of deep gratitude and healing. Obviously, this is the way to inspiration for many a poet and artist. I'm not an artist, though, but still I sense the muse whispering in my ear, showering me in inspiration. This is the embrace of Mother Nature, for which I am both humble and joyous.