Most people mistakenly believe that all you have to do to stop working is not work. The inventors of the Sabbath understood that it was a much more complicated undertaking. You cannot downshift casually and easily. This is why the Puritan and Jewish Sabbaths were so exactingly intentional. The rules did not exist to torture the faithful. They were meant to communicate the insight that interrupting the ceaseless round of striving requires a surprisingly strenuous act of will, one that has to be bolstered by habit as well as by social sanction.
Meditating in silence is a little like donning black robes. You turn off your internal music and distracting narrative, and stop worrying about whether you fit in. You realize that stillness can offer another way of learning and communication. Rather than marching to a different drummer, you walk along quietly at your own pace, not leading, not following, just trying to experience the entire parade.
