The act of inner attention

The act of inner attention seems to create a medieval walled garden. It is hedged about with silence and stillness, but silence and stillness are not the heart of it. At the center is a fountain and we see that everything has arranged itself around the water playing in the sunlight: here is the source of the timelessness that is everywhere apparent. The more deeply we enter, the more the fountain soars above; awe and wonder claim us.

It asks that we learn how to live, to make a particular path and fullness out of the spirit's eternity and silence.

January 2000 (Vol. XIII, No. 1)

DEEP BLESSINGS, dear friends, as we welcome in a new year, a new millennium! more then ever, our offering of SILENCE are needed as our hopes and dreams of a more peaceful and just world are birthe into reality around planet Earth.

The way into our human heart

We need only to let God's mysterious and silent presence within us to become more and more what shapes us and everything we do. We need to learn the value of silence, stillness, and quiet because it is the way into our human heart, into our center where God dwells.

~ from an address by Vincent Dwyer thanks to Bill Martin
Vincent Dwyer silence

Through silence our days are illumined

In silence we discover ourselves, our actual presence to the life in us and around us. When we are present, deeply attentive, we cannot be busy controlling. Instead we become beholders -- giving ourselves up to the mystery of things. We become more willing to let things be. And, as a consequence we can also let ourselves be.

Through silence our days are illumined -- like rooms filled with light -- so we may inhabit our lives.

~ ~ from SHARING SILENCE by Gunilla Norris
Gunilla Norris Sharing Silence silence Buy on Amazon

You are silence

You are silence. Silence unites us, while words divide us. Silence gathers us together, while words scatter us. Silence invites us to peace, while words stir us to wars. You are silence, simple silence, eloquent silence, active silence, contemplative silence. ... Help me to be eloquently silent -- exactly as You are.

~ ~ from BOLD PRAYERS FROM THE HEART by Jean Maalouf with thanks to Pat Prescott
Jean Maalouf Bold Prayers From The Heart silence Buy on Amazon

The secret anniversaries of the heart

The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart
The secret anniversaries of the heart.

~ ~ Wadsworth Longfellow
Wadsworth Longfellow silence

Silence is a thunder

Don't think that those who enter the silence of God are "silent". Nothing could be farther from the truth! Silence is a thunder! You will be able to hear it everywhere. Your nights and days will be filled with it. ...Many confuse silence with solitude. Solitude is being alone with God, waiting for God. But silence is an immense sea into which you enter and never leave. And once you have plunged into this silence, you will always be silent.

~ ~ from MOLCHANIE by Catherine de Hueck Doherty with thanks to Elizabeth Fribance
Catherine de Hueck Doherty Molchanie silence Buy on Amazon

Silence is the medium of transcendence

It is only in silence and through silence that we can interiorize what is beyond our comprehension and apprehend the power of a design larger than ourselves: it is the medium of transcendence.

~ ~ from COMMUNITY OF LOVE by John Main
John Main Community Of Love silence Buy on Amazon

Listening to this dancing stillness

Silence, waiting, empty stillness: these are not achievements we accomplish but living forces beyond ourselves which we learn to flow with, surrender to. There is a River of Stillness, or Musical Silence, or Beautiful Darkness flowing through the heart of al beings which we enter into when we allow ourselves to rest in quiet, in silence, waiting. The contemplative way is to begin listening to this dancing stillness.

~ ~ "Stillness Dancing" by Br. Gregory with thanks to Susan Ray
Br. Gregory Stillness Dancing silence

Silence sensitizes

Spend time in solitude and silence. Solitude permits us to retreat from the press and struggle in order to let our fragmented and dispersed selves to become collected again. Silence goes hand in hand with solitude. Silence sensitizes, just as noise desensitizes.

~ from "Pray Without Ceasing" by E. Glenn Hinson
E. Glenn Hinson Pray Without Ceasing silence Buy on Amazon

The winter name of God

SILENCE is the winter name of God.

~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill silence

Be Still

Be still
and listen
to the heartbeat of God.
~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill silence

There are three things needed

There are three things needed, for which you don't require a computer, television or radio. The first is a bit of stillness. Nothing can happen if there isn't a certain stillness. We also need silence. There is nothing so vocal and articulate as silence; all good language, all great words, are born of it. Meister Eckhart said, "there is nothing in the universe that so much resembles God as silence". So we need to return back beneath our language to the silence within us. And the third thing we need is solitude ... an invitation for the soul to come alive.

~ from "Earth's Inner Light" by John O'Donohue
John O'Donohue Earth's Inner Light silence Buy on Amazon

If you love truth be a lover of silence

If you love truth be a lover of silence. Silence like the sunlight will illuminate you in God and will deliver you from the phantoms of ignorance. Silence will unite you to God.

~ Isaac of Nineveh
Isaac of Nineveh silence Buy on Amazon

No communion without silence

One of the reasons why communication in general in our society is so shallow and boring is that it does not grow out of silence and solitude. Consequently there is no communion. ...Communication could be a kind of communion if indeed we were a more silent and solitary people. Where we live with God alone in silence, then when we come out of that holy, sacred space, we are deepened and not only ready but longing to share with others the deeper dimensions of life.

~ William McNamara
William McNamara silence Buy on Amazon

The silence of the spirit

There is a silence of the tongue, a silence of the whole body, the silence of the soul, the silence of the mind, and the silence of the spirit. The silence of the tongue is merely when it is not incited to speech; the silence of the entire body is when its senses are unoccupied; the silence of the soul is when no ugly thoughts burst forth within it; the silence of the mind is when it is not reflecting on anything harmful; the silence of the spirit is when the mind ceases even from stirrings caused by created spiritual beings and all its movements are stirred solely by Being, at the wondrous awe of the silence which surrounds Being.

~ from "John the Solitary, on Prayer" trans. by Sebastian Brock
Sebastian Brock John The Solitary, On Prayer silence

His silence became living

Inayat Khan tells the illuminating story of a disciple who came to the teacher and started to ask a philosophical question. The spiritual teacher was, however, in deep meditation from which he would not be disturbed. He said to the disciple: "SILENCE!"

This word was so powerful that the disciple went into silence -- and remained silent for the rest of his life. However, there came a time when his silence began to speak aloud. His silent thought would manifest and his silent wish be granted; his silent glance would heal; his silent look would inspire. His silence became living.

~ from UNIVERSAL SUFISM by H.J. Wittireen
H.J. Wittireen Universal Sufism silence Buy on Amazon

The human heart has hidden treasures

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed.

~ Charlotte Bronte
Charlotte Bronte silence

Through silence our days are illumined

In silence we discover ourselves, our actual presence to the life in us and around us. When we are present, deeply attentive, we cannot be busy controlling. Instead we become beholders -- giving ourselves up to the mystery of things. We become more willing to let things be. And, as a consequence we can also let ourselves be.

Through silence our days are illumined -- like rooms filled with light -- so we may inhabit our lives.

You are silence

You are silence. Silence unites us, while words divide us. Silence gathers us together, while words scatter us. Silence invites us to peace, while words stir us to wars. You are silence, simple silence, eloquent silence, active silence, contemplative silence. ... Help me to be eloquently silent -- exactly as You are.

Silence is a thunder

Don't think that those who enter the silence of God are "silent". Nothing could be farther from the truth! Silence is a thunder! You will be able to hear it everywhere. Your nights and days will be filled with it. ...Many confuse silence with solitude. Solitude is being alone with God, waiting for God. But silence is an immense sea into which you enter and never leave. And once you have plunged into this silence, you will always be silent.

Silence is the medium of transcendence

It is only in silence and through silence that we can interiorize what is beyond our comprehension and apprehend the power of a design larger than ourselves: it is the medium of transcendence.

Listening to this dancing stillness

Silence, waiting, empty stillness: these are not achievements we accomplish but living forces beyond ourselves which we learn to flow with, surrender to. There is a River of Stillness, or Musical Silence, or Beautiful Darkness flowing through the heart of al beings which we enter into when we allow ourselves to rest in quiet, in silence, waiting. The contemplative way is to begin listening to this dancing stillness.

Silence sensitizes

Spend time in solitude and silence. Solitude permits us to retreat from the press and struggle in order to let our fragmented and dispersed selves to become collected again. Silence goes hand in hand with solitude. Silence sensitizes, just as noise desensitizes.

Pages