How do you handle silence?

Keeping Quiet

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is the friend of silence.  See how nature---trees, flowers, grass---grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

                                  Mother Teresa

“What ought we to learn before anything else, but to be silent, that we may be able to speak…It is more difficult to know how to be silent than how to speak.”

                                  Ambrose (teacher of Constantine)

“It is hard to keep water in without a dike.  But it is harder still to hold in one’s tongue.”

                                  John Climacus

         Many spiritual practices include the cultivation of silence.  I know a Zen Buddhist man here in Birmingham who has spent two years in silent retreat at a monastery in Nova Scotia.  When I spoke to him just before his first trip, he told me that he could take three books to read and that was all.  He was choosing them carefully.  One of my instructors in Charlottesville went for a three-month silent retreat at a Cherokee retreat center in New England.  During that time, she was in silent prayer for the world every minute that she was awake.  When I contemplate doing either of those, I almost jump out of my skin.  I know I am not ready for such sacrifice.

         On the other hand, I believe that a good dose of silence is necessary to almost any spiritual practice.  We Americans shrink away from silence even if it lasts only one minute.  We think we have to fill every second of our day with noise of some kind---silence, now that’s just creepy.  Yet, we cannot be at one with ourselves in a noisy environment; we can not listen to our self-talk, or notice background sounds, or listen to one bird singing unless we manage to shut our mouths and keep quiet for some little stretch of time.   When I am outside walking my dogs, I see so many people who are out for their daily jog with earphones or an ear-pod.  They don’t even make eye-contact when we pass because they are so distracted by whatever noise is going into their ears.  Neither can they make contact with their inner voice, or God’s voice, speaking from the silence.

         When was the last time you simply sat in silence for five minutes?  Or, spent and afternoon doing something else while maintaining silence.  What did you notice?  What I notice is that my thoughts also quiet, I listen more, I am more aware of my environment, ideas come to me, remembrances play through my head, people I hadn’t thought of for years come to mind, and when I move back into the noisy world, I am calmer and more at peace with myself.  I hope you will build some time for silence into your day.  I think you will find you have more capacity for dealing with life’s relentless demands if you do.

                          Keeping the spirit,

                          Jane