winter, stillness

One way of moving beyond words in meditative journaling is by becoming attentive to the silence before, beneath, and between our words, both as we write and as we read back to ourselves what we have written. This allows us to become more attentive to the silence into which our silence sometimes leads us. Where we feel our writing taking us into the Silence, we simply go there and allow ourselves to be in the Silence, "letting the words flow to silence... "As we become aware of something stirring in the silence, we record it, "letting the silence speak to the word..."

If we want to live like a feather on the Wind, we must strive at least once a day to taste the peace of paradise that dwells within us. We need to find some time each day to sit quietly in peace, in stillness, savoring the mystery of God within us. Such silent sitting will not only prepare us to find "eternal rest" at the time of our death; it will help us find infinite peace in the midst of the problems of life.

We are all joined in the holiness of the mind that God created. I therefore never consider myself alone in the silence. I'm 90 and live alone in a four room house surrounded by open space. I have no T and have always luxuriated in silence. The exterior silence is here. The i8nterior silence is a work in progress.

Friends,
the wise tell us that God abides in silence --
that God speaks in the silent serenity of the heart.
Let us not speak of silence; rather,
let silence speak to us of God.

Together, let us enter through the door of serenity,
the silence of our heart: a heart that is free,
peaceful, quiet and calm, a heart that is one ...
a heart so large and wide it embraces God
of all and the all of God,
the God who in silence speaks all languages,
the God who in silence speaks in all creatures,
the God who in silence speaks one word:
the God who speaks of Love.

Begin each day anchored in stillness, taking nothing for granted, open to whatever the coming day's gift may be. Listen to the silence for ten minutes or so and realize how filled it is, filled with the breath of God! Su8ch silence wants to draw from you a quiet prayer that leans on that presence and seeks to harken to it throughout the day.

Silence is the indispensable climate for all revelation;
noise renders it absolutely impossible.

For sheer adventure, exploring the inner space of the human spirit has to equal the exploration of outer space. Inner space holds a realm of existence not readily apparent when we are in the grip of the strident external world. A powerful launching vehicle for the discovery of the realm within is silence. It is in the vessel of silence that inner transformation can occur.

Those who practice a watch of silence each day find their devotion takes them into ever-deepening realizations of God's immediate presence.

Silent watch periods are momentous opportunities that call for alert, expectant, and reverent participation. They are a foundation for prayer and an altar of awareness in the temple of reception.

They constitute the practice of our realization of God's immediate presence. The high moment of silence is that of consciously realizing God's envelopment.

I sat in the cafeteria alone wallowing in the quiet. I didn't realize how much I missed being silently alone. This place is full of noise. Hard noises and constant noises. Prison is full of people, angry people and people afraid, but always people crowded in rooms and herded like cattle from place to place. I sat down in the cafeteria and closed my eyes and felt God in the silence. I stayed there until they made me leave.

Let candles burn, both warm and bright,
Which to our darkness Thou has brought,
When we are wrapped in silence most profound,
May we hear that song most fully raised
From all the Unseen World that lies around
And Thou art by all Thy children praised.

Night and morning, You are by us faithfully
And surely at each newborn day.