Be Still

Be still
and listen
to the heartbeat of God.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

January 1999 (Vol. X, No. 1)

BLESSINGS IN THIS NEW YEAR, dear friends! May we dare to open the door of our hearts to the Silence centered within; may we welome the Presence of the One we have ever sought -- the Divine Guest.

True silence is our search for God ... a suspension bridge that a soul in love with God builds to cross the dark, frightening gullies of its own mind, the strange chasms of temptation, 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. True silence is a key to the immense and flaming heart of God. This silence will break forth in a charity that overflows in the service of the neighbor without counting the cost.

~ from POUSTINIA by Catherine H. Doherty with thanks to M. Austin Onisko
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When you and the silence become friends, it will speak to you as loudly as anything you could ever hear from the outer world. Soon you will not be able to ignore its voice, which after all is the voice of your own spirit calling to you.

~ from REAL MOMENTS by Barbara De Angelis
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In the silence of our prayerful hearts, we stand empty and are so able to hear God knocking at the door and longing to come inside. Too many words insulate us from our inner poverty. Too many words drown out the sound of God's voice at the door.

~ from THE CONSPIRACY OF COMPASSION by Joseph Nassal
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I gather my words with a spoon
and they turn into soup!

I gather my words with a rake
and the beautiful fertile earth shows --

I gather my words with your love
and I become silent.

~ Edith Wallace
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No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.

~ Agnes de Mille
Agnes de Mille silence

We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken us a lifetime to learn. It seems the old are more able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young are more impatient and usually break the silence. It is a waste; for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is a great paradox.

~ from THE NOTEBOOK by Nicolas Sparks
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When we sit in silence and begin to focus our attention inwardly, the awareness of the self is strengthened and the spiritual dimensions of the soul are revealed. When we meditate or concentrate our energies on our BEINGNESS, we return to wholeness, the oneness of who we are -- our infinite self. When we meditate, the light of unconditional love is lit within us, and it continues to grow more and more with each meditation. The more we focus on this center, the more our feelings of unconditional love evolve, and, in turn, the more we transform every aspect of our lives, we influence everyone with whom we come in contact.

~ from TALKING TO HEAVEN by James Van Praage with thanks to Ralph Hagelburger
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I think the most essential thing in one's life is silence. What is silence? We think if we are quiet, we are silent. But we must come to silence without desire and wanting, otherwise we are not silent.

~ Tara Singh
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"Why be silent? I have fallen in love with silence. For thirty-five years I talked enough. There is no motive to talk more."

"If you are in silence, how can you communicate?"

"The mode of communication is not only through language. In the spiritual field, the real communication is through love and silence. In fact, it is really THROUGH silence."

~ from EVERYDAY MIRACLES IN THE HOUSE OF GOD by Mary Pat Fisher
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There is the silence in which everything exists, and then there is the noise in my head that I have come to take as the natural background to my life. It has occurred to me that perhaps the trick is to begin to see the silence as the background and the noise as moving across it. The silence, the plain existence of things, is what is real; the thoughts are clouds.

~ from THE EARTH HOUSE by Jeanne DuPrau with thanks to Mary Hazlett
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Meeting and greeting the Presence within happens in all degrees of intensity... One day the silence may suddenly, automatically deepen -- like a car going into overdrive -- when you effortlessly remain in the deepest relaxation, undistracted, receptive. In this state you may feel the love going out from you and coming back to you and you may feel within you a sudden walling-up of glowing happiness or intense, vibrant joy. You may find yourself smiling as you realize you are meeting and being met, as you know you are experiencing the Presence.

~ from A SENSE OF WONDER by Alison Davis
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The music finishes.
It is the quiet of night
Broken by the ticking of a clock,
the hiss of rain,
the growling of a distant car.
The silence of this interval
is not for doing,
not for resting
But to wonder in;
A vulnerable silence
given back to us.

~ W.S. Beattie
W.S. Beattie silence

Poet M.C. Richards asks, "In the beginning was the word, but what preceded the word?" Her answer is: SILENCE

A people poverty-stricken for quiet, we! ... Probably never in the history of the world has there been as much noise and as little time in the day for quiet... Carlyle wrote, "Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves," while Einstein believed that imagination is more important than knowledge. If like prayer, imagination needs silence in which to grow, are we not depriving our very souls with such world-wide noise pollution?

~ from "Peace and Quiet" by Daniel O'Hagan with thanks to Mary Kay Martin
Daniel O'Hagan Peace And Quiet silence
Seek to know the Silence behind all words, the Light behind all appearances...
~ Nan Merrill
Nan Merrill silence

True silence is our search for God

True silence is our search for God ... a suspension bridge that a soul in love with God builds to cross the dark, frightening gullies of its own mind, the strange chasms of temptation, 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. True silence is a key to the immense and flaming heart of God. This silence will break forth in a charity that overflows in the service of the neighbor without counting the cost.

When you and the silence become friends

When you and the silence become friends, it will speak to you as loudly as anything you could ever hear from the outer world. Soon you will not be able to ignore its voice, which after all is the voice of your own spirit calling to you.

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