Observing silence is a way to quiet the mind and create a place within yourself to receive language from deep levels of feeling. This receptive place where silence lives is found within the heart -- the spiritual heart. Meditative silence is like the luster of green summer grass; to appreciate this living silence, learn to listen attentively. Enter into silence and let it drink you.
Silence has many dimensions. It can be a regression and an escape, a loss of self, or it can be presence, awareness, unification, self-discovery. Negative silence blurs and confuses our identity, and we lapse into daydreams or diffuse anxieties. Positive silence pulls us together and makes us realize who we are, who we might be, and the distance between the two. Hence, positive silence implies a choice, and what Paul Tillich called the "courage to be."