Seeking
Silence
“The
further one travels the spiritual path toward Home...the more
precious is one's relationship with Silence. Though the spiritual
disciplines may change over the course of one's journey, the one
discipline which seems constant, though it ever deepens, is the
friendship with Silence.”
Jerry
Wright
I went to a neighborhood
garden party one evening this week. It was at the home of a very
gracious woman. Each beautifully appointed room had not one thing out
of place. This woman is a master gardener, who bought the house a few
years ago, had all the troublesome trees cut down immediately, and
now has a garden as thickly planted and lovely as any public
botanical park. The neighbors gathered inside and when the volume
became too intense, moved outside to drink wine and socialize. Before
long, outside was loud, too. I found myself walking a paving-stone
path that wound through beautiful flowers to the very back of the
garden where stood a small gazebo with plush seating and a baby swing
for the woman's grandchild. It was almost quiet there.
I'm not sure why humans,
especially American humans, have adopted a code of loudness. When
people are talking with one another, we raise our voices in order to
be heard. Pretty soon, everyone is yelling, and no one can be heard.
It truly is a mystery to me. You don't see that in other countries. A
close-to-home example of this adoration of sound is the little
brewery/restaurant area just down the hill from me. When a band tunes
up for the evening's entertainment, the amps are turned as high as
they can go. The music is so loud it hurts. You feel it pounding in
your chest! It's loud at my house six blocks away! And over the top
of that music are screaming voices of people trying to converse with
one another. It's a staggering cacophony of noise. What IS
that all about?
Down in Fair Hope,
Alabama, there is a community called Friends of Silence. The quote
above is from one of their leaders. They are people committed to a
spiritual path involving silence as a way of life. I don't think I
could adopt a practice of total silence, but I find myself valuing
more and more the time I spend with only the natural sounds. I think
spending significant time each day in silence heightens awareness,
calms the nervous system, and keeps one grounded and centered.
When I left the garden
party, only the extroverts were still there—talking, talking,
talking. I enjoyed walking down the quiet street and going into my
silent, messy house. It was a holy moment.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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