Why We Flee Silence
Unfortunately, in seeing ourselves as we truly
are, not all that we see is beautiful and attractive. This is undoubtedly part
of the reason we flee silence. We do not want to be confronted with our
hypocrisy, our phoniness. We see how false and fragile is the
false self we project. We have to go through this painful experience to
come to our true self. It is a harrowing journey, a death to self—the false
self—and no one wants to die. But it is the only path
to life, to freedom, to peace, to true love. And it begins with silence. We
cannot give ourselves in love if we do not know and possess ourselves. This is
the great value of silence. It is the pathway to all we truly want.
M. Basil Pennington
Healing without Profit
Silence stands
outside the world of profit and utility. It cannot be exploited for profit; you
cannot get anything out of it. It is “unproductive,” therefore it is
regarded as useless. Yet there is more help and healing in silence than
in all useful things.
Max Picard
Our Best Justifier
The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of
words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our
public image. We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us that we
talk in order to straighten out their understanding. If I have done some wrong
thing (or even some right thing that I think you may misunderstand) and
discover that you know about it, I will be tempted to help you understand my
action. Silence is one of the deepest disciplines of the Spirit simply because
it puts the stopper on all self-justification. One of the fruits of silence is
the freedom to let God be our justifier. We don’t need to straighten others
out.
Richard J. Foster
Idle Words
The more we live with people in a
community, the more we must look to ourselves and regard the beam in our own
eyes. The more we live with a babbling crowd, the more we must practice
silence. “For every idle word we speak we will be judged.”
Dorothy Day
Hearing His Silence
It is better to
be silent and be, than to talk and not be...The person who is really possessed
of the word of Christ can hear even His silence, so that he may be perfect and
may act through what he says and be known through his silence. Nothing is
hidden from the Lord, but even our secrets are near him. So let us do
everything with a sense that he is dwelling within us, so that we may be his
temples, and he be within us as our God.
Ignatius
Completely with God
Humility collects the soul into a single point by the power of silence. A
truly humble man has no desire to be known or admired by others, but wishes to
plunge from himself into himself, to become nothing, as if he had never been
born. When he is completely silent— hidden to himself in himself—he is
completely with God.
Isaac of
No Reason to Talk
Silence is the
measure of the power to act; that is, a person never has more power to act than
he has silence. Anyone can understand that to do something is far greater than
to talk about doing it. If, therefore, a person has a plan or idea and is fully
resolved to carry it out, he does not need to talk about it. What he talks
about in connection with the proposed action is what he is most unsure of and
most unwilling to do.
Soren Kierkegaard
Deep Communion
Silence before
God has deep significance: in the quietness of the soul the individual sinks
into the central fire of communion. In the circle of worship the most personal
elemental chords of life receive their deepest stimulation…In the silent act of
breathing and in the unspoken dialogue of the soul with God, solitary as these
are, deep communion can be given.
Eberhard Arnold
Where Sin Is
Love silence even in the mind; for thoughts are to that as words to the body,
troublesome. Much speaking, as much thinking, spends; and in many thoughts, as
well as words, there is sin. True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to
the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. It is a
great virtue; it covers folly, keeps secrets, avoids disputes, and prevents
sin.
William Penn
Where God Is Found
It is necessary
that we find God, and he cannot be found in noise and unpeace...See
how Nature—trees, flowers, and grass—grow in stillness; how stars, moon, and
sun run their course in silence. The more we receive through quiet
prayer, the more we can give in the activity of our daily lives. In
essence, it is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us.
All our words are useless if they do not come from within. Words that do
not carry the light of Christ only increase the darkness.
Mother Teresa of