The faithful heart finds in itself a mysterious longing for an epiphany of the Divine. A seed of unceasing prayer is this longing, we must abide with it, attentive to its invitation. Silent abiding is the beginning of fidelity. The gift of holy longing is veiled for us by anxious concern, vexing problems, tedious tasks and ambitious pursuits. How large they loom in daily life! ... Our life is like a dish that is broken, but needs and problems appear trivial in the light of an epiphany of the Holy. In the radiance of this sacred presence, concerns recede in the shadows of attentiveness. Life becomes an unceasing prayer, a lasting gestures of fidelity.
We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking.
Loving for God is a loving gaze. This gaze is born of silence. Nothing is sought here. No thought or image are entertained. This gaze opens onto the divine essence and becomes absorption into divine plenty. The silence of plenty.
Silence is powerful; it must be approached with sensitivity. There are times when silence during a meal may be important, while at other times it may be a hindrance. Silence at meals is interesting to explore; many find it increases the energy obtained from the meal. But beware. A little silence in a noisy culture is revolutionary; you may learn to love it. If that happens, share your silence with those who also love silence.
I am grateful for the Friends of Silence newsletter for allowing me a small moment to bring myself back to center, into the silence where all is as it should be. It's amazingly simple how we may find solace. It's even more amazing that, once having discovered this simple truth, I could so easily have allowed it to slip away. Thank you for providing my lesson today, in reminding me to stand in the silence of myself, connect with Source, and remember the importance of expressing my gratitude, internally as well as externally.
I weave a silence on my lips.
I weave a silence into my mind.
I weave a silence within my heart.
I close my ears to distractions.
I close my eyes to attractions.
I close my heart to temptations.
Calm me as You stilled the storm.
Still me, keep me from harm.
Let all tumult within me cease.
Enfold me in Your peace.
The venerated Chinese teacher Lin-chi, who died in the year 866, once interrupted the silence with a shout that was said to have nearly cracked the universe.... Breaking the silence can sometimes be a shortcut to cracking open the myteries of the universe. But for now, I'm quite content to sit here quietly. There is only the infrequent shout of a distant ocean wave to rise abo ve the regulated whisper of my own breathing. Soon, even these sounds fade.
The venerated Chinese teacher Lin-chi, who died in the year 866, once interrupted the silence with a shout that was said to have nearly cracked the universe.... Breaking the silence can sometimes be a shortcut to cracking open the mysteries of the universe. But for now, I'm quite content to sit here quietly. There is only the infrequent shout of a distant ocean wave to rise above the regulated whisper of my own breathing. Soon, even these sounds fade.
Silence is precious; yet we have to pay the price it demands. Silence does not reveal its treasures until we are willing to wait in darkness and emptiness.
We say silence is golden. Golden as in exquisite, valuable, rare. In the spiritual life, silence is even more: the doorway to the presence of God. But in today's noisy world, where is the holy quiet of silence to be found? Can you hear the silence in your life?
In the Sahara one day, I climbed over a dune to descend into a deep bowl of sand. Sitting at the bottom I encountered for the first time absolute silence, stillness that is indivisible. For there are two silences: a silence can be no more than the absence of noise, it can be inert; or, at the other end of the scale, there is a nothingness that is infinitely alive, and every cell of the body can be penetrated and vivified by this second silence's activity.
The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega. It is God's brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blended note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to "World." Distinctions blur. Quiet your tents. Pray without ceasing.
True silence is our search for God ... a suspension bridge that a soul in love with God builds across the dark, frightening gullies of its own mind, the strange chasms of temptations, the depthless precipices of its own fears that impede its way to God.
True silence is the speech of lovers. For only love knows its beauty, completeness, and utter joy. True silence is a garden enclosed, where alone the soul can meet its God.
~ from CELTIC NIGHT PRAYER by the Northumbria Community with thanks to Roger S. Smith
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
Blessed be, dear friends. Can you imagine your soul as Life breathing in a delicate, interconnected Oneness, a mutual dance of Wholeness with ALL that is? Who can answer the invitation to beome conscious of our soul's interbeing, interweaving, with the World Soul? In egvery moment, how we live, think, pray and act awakens our soul or allows our soul to sleep. A Great Awakener, activate our souls that we may embrace and answer our own unique divine Call. May gratitude become our soul-song!
When the prayer makers thought of the soul as a garden, they liked to picture in it the Creator setting a breeze into motion and the flowers of the soul to dancing. On a gray morning or a dark night, in late autumn or in barren years as much as in brighter times, the imagination of such dancing signals that divine activity is all around us, only waiting to be recognized. May the prayer and the dreams that goodness might displace everything that is flawed in the soul come to be realized for another dancing day.
~ from WHEN TRUE SIMPLICITY IS GAINED by Martin and Micah Marty
I shall pray to seek You with my whole heart ... I dwell in Your Presence even when my thoughts becfome devious. It is too much to bear alone when my eyes turn from You, You are in my soul to stay, my home is in Your Presence.
Our soul makes constant noise, but it has a silent place we never hear. When the silence of God enters us, pierces our soul, and joins its silent sacred palce, then God is our treasure and our heart. And space opens before us like a fruit that breaks in two. Then we see the universe from a point beyond space.
Each of us is a soul. We have been told that we "have" a soul, but that's not the same thing. To have a soul would indicate that we are primarily an ego or a personality that in some way "possesses" a soul. Our essence IS the soul and all aspects of ego and personality flow from that essence. At its core the soul is pure, but habits, tendencies, and imbalances often obscure some of that inner light. Our spiritual work is to correct whatever shortcomings may be preventing the light of our sould from shining through.
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like god in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of the soul in shadowy times like these -- to be fierce and to show mercy toward others -- both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.
My soul is not asleep. It is awake, wide awake. It neithr sleeps, nor dreams, but watches, its eyes wide open, sees far-off things, and listens at the shore of the great silence.
