How do you talk about silence with out breaking it? It’s important, yet I can barely explain why with words. There is a power in silence, but like all power it must be used with wisdom and not as a weapon. We’ve all felt the bruising silent treatment or have lost something important because we failed to break our silence.
Balance. Difficult to achieve and regretful when we fail to have it.
Sit in silence, listen and fill your body with the breath of life. Let your troubles fade while seeking the voice of wisdom and strength. In prayer we talk to God, in silence we listen for answers. It’s in the quiet of the mind that we most often hear the hope, comfort, and words of strength that we need.
Gordon Hempton, the author of the book, One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Quest to Preserve Quiet, said, “Silence isn’t the absence of something, but the presence of everything.”
Have you ever sat in the deep forest by a stream and listened to the water splashing over the rocks? Have you breathed that air and heard the wind high in the tree tops? Have you sat where no human sound disturbs your mind? It is in these quiet moments when we can breath in healing and listen for words of wisdom in the clouds.
Meditation depends on a spirit of silence where we quiet our mind and listen to just one thing. Chanting, music, or movement is sometimes used, but the point is to be open to the infinite and attune our spirit to the possibility of everything.
Our world is increasingly getting louder and quiet is fading. TV, radio, news, and social media demand our attention and steal from us our rest and strength that a quiet rainy day can bring. We move from outrage to outrage shutting out hope and love. When was the last time you heard a story of hope on the evening news.
Noise, the pounding drum and crashing cymbal are the tools of those who would demand our attention and fear. Politicians vie power by loudly calling out our fears or inventing enemies for us to stand against. Incessant and driving they don’t give us time to think and respond. Instead they pound the drum of hate, instill in our hearts fear and drive out love, friendship and hope.
Politicians, media and so many people view silence as a weakness. To be quiet is viewed as giving up or not caring. Sometimes it is. The trick is to know when to stand silent and not be drawn into the fray and when to speak with quiet wisdom. The trick is to have times of silence that clears our minds, focuses our thoughts, and enables our strength to be wisdom. Fighting for a cause or a truth should never be out of fear, but rather as the result of quiet consideration of the consequences of both not acting and acting.
I don’t have the right words today. I don’t know how to say that we must turn off the noise and listen to the silence of the wind, waves, and flowing water.
How can I say in words, the beautiful world I see in the silence of night?
Andrew's View of the Week 