... the silence in the mind is when we live best, within listening distance of the silence we call God ... It is a presence, then, whose margins are our margins; that calls us out over our own fathoms.
What to do, but to draw a little nearer to such ubiquity by remaining still?
Intelligent silence is the mother of prayer, freedom from bondage, custodian of zeal, a guard on our thoughts, a watch on our fears, a friend of tears, a recollection of death, a concern without judgment, a foe of license, a companion of stillness, the opponent of dogmatism, a growth of knowledge, a hand to shape contemplation, hidden progress, the secret journey toward the Light. The lover of silence draws closer to God (by whatever Names).
~ from THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT by St. John Clemacius
