How rare is silence in our lives today! We seem to have a need for continuous noise, a compulsion for clamours. If it is not talking or crying or laughing, it is radio, telephone, or television. Somehow we fear to expose ourselves to silence, for we do not know what will surface from within when the external noise is eliminated. Some of us cannot even fall asleep in a quiet environment. Paradoxically, he who sleeps in continual noise is wakened by silence!
Sound or noise seems to reassure us; it allows us to escape from ourselves into a distraction. Silence on the other hand, scares us. We fear we will be exposed to the sound of our own voice – something we really do not want to hear. The light is too painful for someone who wants to remain in total darkness; so too, silence is too scary for someone who is immersed in the hustle and bustle of life. It is a sad thing that only a few people know the great ecstasy of silence – the state of being beyond time and space.
Silence, however, must be a timeless treasure, for this mystic wisdom refuses to grow old with the passage of time. The spiritual history of humanity is replete with men and women who sought it eagerly. People of enlightenment have cherished it as a golden means to put themselves in touch with the invisible, and in silence they have felt more united, and at home with the ground of being. They have acknowledged silence as the language of eternity and a prelude to self-discovery. The total integration of human beings and a total flowering in existence can only be achieved through an inner silence.
Serenity opens the door to self. In silence one can write more effectively, think with greater clarity, and become aware of one’s being. We become conscious of the eternal rhythm of being and reality. It enables the broadening of senses and a greater capacity to feel. The healing power of silence offers a feeling oriented approach to life. If it is darkness that reveals the heavenly lights, it is silence that can illumine the inner harmony. It is only through the medium of silence that we can come into contact with our own inner selves, the core of our being, the meaning and the mystery of life, and that primitive simplicity of life. True silence is not empty. It is fullness. It is never an empty space and an empty time. It is not a scary void.
We are a distracted generation. We live in a culture of distractions. The numerous preoccupations and relentless noises that fill our hectic modern lives make us hungry, impatient, anxious, apathetic, listless, and worried. Often we fail to listen to our own interior vibrations. When we fail to listen to our own heartbeats, we will have betrayed ourselves. By neglecting silence, we lose the opportunity for the adventure of entering into our inner worlds, that strange continent of the mind, and to care for the unredeemed areas of our life; silence facilitates for a timeless instant a return to the remembered pastures of the mind and the pleasing discovery of the divine in our interior territory. This could be the first step towards a change of heart. When the human heart is changed – which is the hardest part – systems change as a natural effect.
When we enter the hallowed portals of the majestic silence, we are truly in union and communion. This mystic stillness nourishes our listening capacity as well as the ability for communication - for the deepest communication is when we understand what the other is not saying. It is to be perceptively receptive to the benign silence that envelops us.
True silence is the respite of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body – its nourishment and its refreshment. Authentic wisdom can be attained only in the silence of one’s being. Our visions become so refreshingly different and in creation we see the footprints of God. In those golden moments of time we become attentive to the harmonies of being and realize that paradise is where we stand. Our gaze becomes profound – a rock becomes a prophecy, a smile signals incarnate love, and a tear turns over a sacrament of the silent scream of our world’s heartache. In silence the conscious and the subconscious minds interact and resonate with each other and the possibilities of transformation proliferate. Herein the mind becomes the emperor of the body and is filled with noble inclinations. Silence facilitates the mind to discover truths on an intuitive level. Indeed, I believe, it is a beautiful necessity of our human nature to love silence.
Fr. TC Joseph Sdb
Salesian College, Dimapur
