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Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
The vine
The word is menō: abide, remain, stay. It is not a command to do but a command to stay connected. A branch does not strain to produce grapes. It stays on the vine, and the grapes come. This is the opposite of the striving religious life, and it is the exact description of the contemplative one.
Abiding is what the stillness practices train. To sit, doing nothing, and simply remain in the presence, in the breath, in the Name, is to be a branch on the vine. The fruit is not your business. The remaining is.
Practice
Sit for fifteen minutes with a single word — "remain," or "abide." Each time you notice you have left, return to the word, and to the vine.
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