Weekly Soul - Week 23: Silence (Craigie)
Today's meditation from Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living by Dr. Frederic Craigie.
-23-
When
we make a place for silence, we make room for ourselves. By making room for
silence, we resist the forces of the world which tell us to live an advertised
life of surface appearances, instead of a discovered life—a life lived in
contact with our senses, our feelings, our deepest
thoughts and values.
Gunilla
Norris
Silence is a rare and precious commodity.
It is rare because the world is filled
with the sounds of modern industrial and commercial life. Unless you live in
the Great North Woods of Maine or other similarly rural place, it is hard to
escape the background din of motor vehicles. Your grocery store, your big box
store, your local restaurant—all typically have background music that is so
subtle and pervasive that you may hardly notice it. Like many people, you might
have a radio on in your house for most of your waking hours. The world offers a
constant stream of stimulation that may not involve physical sound but still
intrudes in the same way. Count the people walking down the street with wires
coming out of their ears or the parents at playgrounds staring at smartphones.
I have nothing against cars, background
music, or smartphones, but I do wonder if we are uncomfortable with silence. I
wonder if we are culturally so unaccustomed to silence that it is uncharted and
potentially fearsome territory.
Silence is precious because “we make room
for ourselves.” In silence, there is an opportunity to hear an authentic voice—whether
you experience this as your own wisdom and intuition or as the movement of a
Presence that is beyond you.
Seeking silence is partly a matter of
finding peaceful and quiet spaces: walking in nature or sitting in a church or
synagogue. Nineteenth-century Americans regularly visited cemeteries as restful
places for Sunday outings and picnics. When I was on sabbatical at Fuller
Theological Seminary many years ago, I recall a prayer garden with a waterfall
on one wall that attenuated the outside sounds of downtown Pasadena and made
for a peaceful and reflective space.
Silence, broadly, is still available even
in the absence of physical quiet. Silence is fundamentally a matter of quieting
your mind and your soul so as to invite your present experience—being curious…
being open… to your experience.
When I lead labyrinth walks, I suggest to
participants that there are many ways of walking. Some people focus their
attention on sacred words or phrases. Some people bring to the walk a
particular issue or question in hopes of coming away with greater clarity or
wisdom. My own practice is to come to the labyrinth without a particular focal
point and without an agenda. I try to bring a curious, earnest openness to what
I experience in the outer world and in my own inner-world thoughts, feelings,
and images. Typically, something happens. Something comes, whether it may be
put into words (“the placement of these small memorial stones along the path
remind me that there is light in the darkness…”) or whether it may be a feeling
or impression (like gratefulness or blessedness) that is beyond words.
The labyrinths where I walk are generally
peaceful and, of course, sacred places, but they are rarely silent. There is
usually the sound of traffic and the awareness of people going about their
business some distance away. The silence is of the heart. In this silence, we
make room for ourselves.
Reflection
- Sit in silence for ten minutes.
Just be aware of your experience. What is this like for you? When was the
last time you did this (meditators, just go on now to Bullet 2)?
- Find a place near your home or
workplace that offers a modestly peaceful and quiet environment. If you
have not done so, visit there.
- Consider ways in which you
could build a spiritual practice of quiet pausing into your life routine. You
might pause incident to meals, to awakening or retiring, or to transitions
in your daily activities. Try pausing and just being present before the
weekly team meeting, yes?
- Choose a modestly busy environment, and experiment
with quieting your mind and your soul. Can you “make room for yourself”
and catch some glimpse of your “senses,
feelings, and deepest thoughts and values?”
Author
Gunilla Norris (b. 1939) is a multi-national poet, writer, and psychotherapist. Her parents were in the Swedish diplomatic corps, and she grew up in Argentina, Sweden and the United States. Her writing includes eleven children’s books, two books of poetry, and several books about spirituality, mindfulness and meditative practices. A continuing interest is what she calls “household spirituality, or the practice of spiritual awareness in the most mundane and simple of circumstances.” The quotation comes from her 1992 book, Sharing Silence: Meditation Practice and Mindful Living (Bell Tower).
Book Description:
Keywords:
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