Tuesday, April 26, 2011

In praise of Silence

Silence is my life's nectar.
I revel in it, drink it in at every opportunity.
It feeds me, sustains me, nourishes me, cleanses me.
It wraps me in a blanket of the sweetest, softest cotton--
simultaneously enveloping me and giving me space to breathe.

Silence warms and expands my heart,
reminds me that I have nothing to fear,
for I and it are one.
And oh, how I love playing the role of Silence:
intuitively knowing,
completely grounded,
embracing all things warmly,
and yet discriminating to the sharpest detail.

Warmth that is not silent is cloying.
But warm that arises from silence--
Ah! That is the aim, the sustenance and the achievement.
That is the life-blood, truly the love of the Divine:
It is no more or less than that.

Silence that has no warmth is not really silence--
for then, it has agenda.
It closes down; it does not include; it does not embrace.
And since silence is the space that holds all things,
how can this be?
It is merely detachment: Sustaining to the mind,
but not to the soul.

And so, my brothers, I entreat you!
Rather than close down and force detachment,
why not embrace silence and listen?
For truly, listening fully--
with the ears of the body, mind, heart, and spirit--
is the seat of all wisdom.
In this way, you connect with the earthly;
In this way, you connect with the Divine;
In this way, you connect with the other;
and in this way, you connect with yourself.
In all these ways, you awaken to Intuition
(another name for your Divine-embodied knowing),
and through Intuition, you discern
all these distinctions are but false divisions of the One.
They are all but ripples in the One Stream.

Returning to me, in my present human form,
I affirm the following as my life path:
To radiate the Heart-Wisdom of Silence;
to live fully in my body, my heart, my soul;
to listen with every pore of my being;
To embrace the Silence Knower;
and to feel the never-ending embrace
of His sweet, silent love.
This I affirm and to this I surrender:
Forever, Amen. 

Om, shanti, shanti, shanti. . . (Peace, peace, peace. . .)

4 comments:

  1. I am finally starting to be able to be silent for short periods of time without having fear/panic come to fill the "void." I believe that means that I am becoming more peaceful in my spirit at times, and the constant "noise" that was necessary before is lessening. I hope that, like you, that more and more peace will "rule" me, and I will be totally comfortable with the quiet, which is when God's still voice is the easiest for me to hear...

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  2. silence really IS golden...starting to make it work for me as a Musician, and hopefully as a Human Being as well...

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  3. Thanks for your comments, Mom and Scott!

    Scott, I totally agree that, on a human level, silence is really important, but on a musician-level, it's crucial. I connect the experience of silence to both listening and playing intuitively, and I know you know what that's all about.

    Mom--Ironically, the day after I wrote this, I woke up with an impending anxiety based, largely, on two fears: 1) feeling overwhelmed with what I needed to do and 2) worrying about what people thought of me. Actually, when I talked to you briefly yesterday I was in more of an unhappy place, although I didn't share that at the time. . . But I made a decision, later in the day, to focus on love and on positive thoughts and that really helped. So, I understand the yo-yo effect, definitely, and will write more about this. . . I totally agree that being in a peaceful place, where God can speak to you, is the ultimate goal. Love you!

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  4. Believe it or not, I could feel your "dis - ease" when we were conversing on the phone Friday - where do you think you got your sensitive nature from??!! I'm glad to hear that later you were able to choose to move forward into a better frame of mind and spirit! Great! Thanks for your response to my comments! I love you, too!

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