Driving home on a rainy day, Lorna was rear-ended by a truck just before the woman playing Rosina in Act I of the Barber of Seville was to sing. The impact was sudden and stunning. "But even as I entered a world of shock and pain, I found a world of bliss and order. I listened to the aria and fifteen minutes of the opera as firemen tried to free me from the wreckage of my car." Though told she had been unconscious until she was in the ambulance, she remembered listening to Rosina's voice throughout the ordeal. "My spirit stayed with my body. The music kept me alive. I was able to listen and stay conscious, alert, and at peace with the music. ... From the beginning of that aria, I knew I had to finish the opera of my life."
It is time to touch the Silence, to become one with nature and other people. When we go into the Silence, we learn to hear the rhythm of the great Mystery, the heartbeat of Earth. Going into the Silence, we learn to be alone with our thoughts:
To hear the Silence
To listen and to see the Silence
To listen and to taste the Silence
And, with closed eyes, to feel the Silence.
It is in quiet moments that we find our heartbeats. When we let go and search the dark warmth of our silence, we feel the rhythmic beat of the Earth vibrating, flowing toward us.