Being alone — physically alone atop a mountain — reminds me of how seldom one is alone in the sort of urbanized life we live nowadays. As I sat, there was a certain peace which I was able to capture for a moment. This physical aloneness is by no means the same as loneliness — not even close kin to it; for I was not alone. On occasions when I am able to get to a mountain top, the realization of the nature of the "mountain-top experience" returns anew.
As Rembrandt's life moves toward the shadows of old age, as his success wanes, and the exterior splendor of his life diminishes, he comes more in touch with the immense beauty of the interior life. There he discovers the light that comes from an inner fire that never dies; the fire of love. His art no longer tries to "grasp, conquer, and regulate the visible," but to "transform the visible in the fire of love that comes from his own unique heart."
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
Greetings of the season, dear friends! Silence can be a great revelation, a gentle revolution, and can evoke resolution. Ever awaiting us in the Silence are insight, intuition, and inspiration. Be still, remain awake, and listen! While shallow ponds and brooks are noisy and busy, still waters run deep; they are calm and silent. True Silence is the blessed, eternal language of soul-Love. Silence: a sacred garden of meditation. In the Silence be still and Know; be still and See.
God is Silence. There is a silence of the tongue, a silence of the whole body. There is a silence of the soul and the spirit. The silence of the spirit is when all its movements are stirred solely by Being; in this state it is truly silent, aware that the silence which is upon it is itself silent.
Silence before the Beloved has deep significance in the quietness of the soul as the individual sinks into the central fire of communion. In the circle of community the most personal elemental chords of life receive their deepest stimulation. In the silent act of breathing and in the unspoken dialogue of the soul with Love, solitary as these are, deep communion can be given.
Know who you are. Do not debase the name. Carry it in your heart, a root flame of love. Walk through the world in silence. The moment will come. The sign will be a soft stirring of wings, a gold shimmer of air.
The sun tries to come out. It is a true November morning--cold and grey, with hints of blue and white light in the sky, a haze over the hills and trees, the ground covered with wet leaves, the trees dead and barren except for the pines. ... I sit content, held in peace as if God is embracing me. The silence is magnificent and healing. I become a part of it--silent, calm, at peace. My soul is quieted.
Real silence is both supremely simple and yet not easy. It draws us into a dimension always open to those who will allow themselves to be centered. ... We enter into silence to let the holiness of mystery take possession of us.
The discipline of silence doesn't mean just taking a short vacation from the spoken word. It also means giving complete relaxation to the muscles, the tissues, the tongue itself. A modern writer once said: "Knowledge has never been known to enter the head via an open mouth." It is when you become completely silent that you are able to absorb knowledge. God speaks in silence. The discipline of silence is essential on the path.
~ from THE DISCIPLINE OF SILENCE, thanks to Edward C. Brady
Meister Eckhart tells us that in silence we make room in our soul for God and that God delights to be in our soul when we have made room. Should we not then be building mansions of silence in our souls to welcome Love's Holy Presence.
We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us that they may see, it may be, their own images, and live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet, our silence.
