True silence is a suspension bridge built across the gullies of our mind

True silence is our search for God ... a suspension bridge that a soul in love with God builds across the dark, frightening gullies of its own mind, the strange chasms of temptations, the depthless precipices of its own fears that impede its way to God.

True silence is the speech of lovers. For only love knows its beauty, completeness, and utter joy. True silence is a garden enclosed, where alone the soul can meet its God.

November 2003 (Vol. XVI, No. 10)

WISHING YOU DEEP BLESSINGS in and of the Silence, dear friends! Listening in the Silence, we receive rest and renewal from the plethora of noise, words, and massive distractions in eery area of daily life. More than ever we NEED many quiet pauses during each day for our physical well-being, our peace of mind, and our spiritual nourishment. Wise are those who companion with Silence regularly. Let the still, small Voice within be a guide.

The interior silence is a work in progress

We are all joined in the holiness of the mind that God created. I therefore never consider myself one in the silence. I'm 88 and live alone in a four room house surrounded by open space. I have no TV and have always luxuriated in silence. The exterior silence is here. The interior silence is a work in progress.

~ from Hazel, a Friend of Silence
Hazel silence

Be still

Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your Name.
 

~ by Thomas Merton
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Sitting in silence

Sitting in silence
Circle of arms linked as One
The way towards Peace.

~ by Justin R. Cannon
Justin R. Cannon silence

Silence teaches us how to speak

Silence makes us pilgrims. It guards the fire within. It teaches us how to speak.

~ by Henri Nouwen
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God is a friend of silence

We need to "find" God, who cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is a friend of silence. The more we engage in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us.

~ by Mother Theresa
Mother Theresa silence

Keeping still in order to hear from God

Before we determine what God wants to hear from us, we need to think about keeping still in order to hear from God. Our culture is drowning in noise. Such a culture cries out for a ministry of silence. It needs to re-learn that silence is an indispensible discipline of the spiritual life . . . to discover the voice of Love speaks most powerfully in the still small voice of silence.

~ from THE JOY OF WORSHIP by Marianne H. Micks, thanks to B. Goyer
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Fasting from words

Fasting from words, fasting from a volume of speech, being willing to humbly accept the yoke of silence and quietude deprives the tongue of the mastery of our hearts and minds. The tongue is a very useful tool for the art of love and for the art of prayer, but it is also the means by which we afflict others and even our own selves so often. So it must be called into holy obedience.

~ from JOURNEY BACK TO EDEN by Mark Gruber
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In silence the scattered pieces fall into place

In silence the scattered pieces of my life fall into place, and I see again where I am going.

~ by Susan Muto
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The Word must be heard in the silence of the heart

The Word must be heard in the silence of the heart, the place in which it can be welcomed and given space so that it may become creative. From earliest times the advice given to those who wanted to learn the monastic way was always "to return to your own heart." This is the interior space for which there are so many different concepts: the inner cloister, the poustinia, the cave of the heart. It is simply "the place of God in us" which each of us will understand in a unique and mysterious way.

~ from THE WAY OF SIMPLICITY by Esther de Waal thanks to G. Grissom
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Real revelation

 Real revelation comes through silence.

~ by "Mr. Rogers"
Mr. Rogers silence

Break silence only with words worth more than silence

Take great care to restrain your tongue and be circumspect. Let only discretion and charity open your mouth. And practice the advice of all the Saints to break silence only with words that are worth more than silence. Silence is one of the most certain signs that God dwells in a soul.

~ by Edith Wallace
Edith Wallace silence

A silence overflowing with absence

In the midst of the tintinnabulation and hurly-burly I see a silence overflowing with absence of all but Thee and me. I seek an interior place of listening to the divine where even the unspoken, but thought, words of prayer shatter silence.

~ by William J. K. Drumm
William J. K. Drumm silence

Be still

Be still. In the silence become empty,
let us create space for Holy Wisdom
to enter in and through us,
expanding our horizons.

Here we will be peaceful, calm, in harmony
with the universe,
in unity with all beings.

~ from Meditations and Mandalas by Nan Merrill
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In the silence of the soul

 All that which maintains a perfect balance in life must have a center. The scales of life never balance by but one side. As you become interested in the secrets of lie, you will find life holds no secrets. Silence, silence, and in the silence of the soul, desire to become conscious of the oneness of being. Then further desire to become in greater consciousness, the fullness of being.

~ by George Graham Price
George Graham Price silence

Silence as thick as the blanket of snow

Outside my window the storm has passed. There was silence. Silence as thick as the blanket of snow that fell during that night. I sat up on my bed and entered the stillness. I had no more questions. I had no answers either. But I was filled with grace. With an inward silence, blessed by my angel after wrestling in the dark. The faith of this family, resonating with the steps in the stairwell, had quieted my fear and taken me by the hand.

~ from CIRCLING TO THE CENTER by Susan M. Tiberghien
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Stillness can offer another way of learning

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.

~ from SWEEPING CHANGES by Gary Thorp
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Silence without

Silence without, stillness within:
you have entered the Unmanifested.

~ from Omnihead Treasuries
Omnihead Treasuries silence

Have you ever drunk silence?

Concentration in the silence without effort is the state of consciousness of perfect calm, accompanied by the complete relaxation of the nerves and muscles of the body. One may say that the entire being becomes like the surface of calm water, reflecting the immense presence of the starry sky and its indescribable harmony.

And the waters are deep, so deep! And the silence grows, ever increasing. . .  What silence! . . . One wave of silence followed by another wave of more profound silence, then again a wave of still more profound silence.

Have you ever DRUNK SILENCE? If so, you know what meditation without effort is.

~ Anonymous Russian mystic
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The interior silence is a work in progress

We are all joined in the holiness of the mind that God created. I therefore never consider myself one in the silence. I'm 88 and live alone in a four room house surrounded by open space. I have no TV and have always luxuriated in silence. The exterior silence is here. The interior silence is a work in progress.

Be still

Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your Name.
 

God is a friend of silence

We need to "find" God, who cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is a friend of silence. The more we engage in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us.

Keeping still in order to hear from God

Before we determine what God wants to hear from us, we need to think about keeping still in order to hear from God. Our culture is drowning in noise. Such a culture cries out for a ministry of silence. It needs to re-learn that silence is an indispensible discipline of the spiritual life . . . to discover the voice of Love speaks most powerfully in the still small voice of silence.

Fasting from words

Fasting from words, fasting from a volume of speech, being willing to humbly accept the yoke of silence and quietude deprives the tongue of the mastery of our hearts and minds. The tongue is a very useful tool for the art of love and for the art of prayer, but it is also the means by which we afflict others and even our own selves so often. So it must be called into holy obedience.

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