Friday, February 16, 2018
SILENCE
Hi There !
Back in seminary days,
eons and a very different church ago,
we observed "The Great Silence."
That meant complete silence
from Compline ( night prayer)
until after breakfast the next morning.
We ended our day and began the next in silence.
There was a settling to that stretch of stillness.
It was a counterpoint and complement
to the activity and talk of the day.
These days silence and stillness are suspect,
socially unacceptable.
Silence is being silenced.
We are being "noised" and distracted to death
by surface static.
That deadening kills off free entry
to our Center, Our Still Point.
Our spirits are denied
the spaciousness of still silence,
where we hear more than words.
Still silence allows us to hear
"The Sounds of Silence,"
the deep down sounds of the sacred.
Back in those seminary days,
there were select periods of silence
throughout the day.
They fostered recollection,
free space to "re"- collect
our often blunted,
at times fractured,
soul sense and attention.
Out here on the street of everyday living
we can have, and greatly need,
our own version and blessing of
The Great Silence,
respites of silent recollection,
an attitude of "whole-ly" quiet.
Here are a few suggested do's and dont's:
- we do one thing at a time and that with attention -
if we walk, we walk - we do not text
phone, or ear bud music, we walk 100%
and let it be what it is - if we listen to music,
we listen to music, settle into it
and get completely absorbed
( downright counter cultural,
downright necessary )
- other than when necessary at work,
we check our emails, voicemails, texts,
the ticker, news flashes,
and all their digital cousins
only after breakfast and then again
once well before dinner
( down right counter cultural,
down right necessary )
- we revisit our visits to Facebook,
Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and their flood
of words, images,
and too often an unhealthy serving
of dulling, distracting trivia
.
We screen screen time
( yep, downright counter cultural,
downright necessary as well to be well )
- we connect with radio, TV, print selectively ,
for a purpose, and with complete attention,
not for distraction and
a hazing over of our consciousness
- we free ourselves from every form of
"Surround Sound" - whatever deafens
sensitivity of soul, psyche, spirit
- with a reverence for quiet,
we dedicate a definite and generous portion
of time to periods of recollection,
and our version of
"The Great Silence":
- ease into it by slowing
our pace and intensity
- that's what we did in the seminary
as we left church after Compline
and silently processed to our rooms
through dimly lit corridors
- perhaps a warm cup of tea, a slow shower
would do the gentle slowing for you
- find a comfortable place and position
- settle in by paying relaxed attention
to your breathing
- gently draw deep breaths,
exhale slowly and gently
- we start where we are: tired, happy,
confused, depleted, angry, overjoyed
- we see, feel, "hear" that
- let it fade and fold into the calm and quiet of
The Eternal Now.
- for some, the slow repetition
of a sacred word or phrase
settles them into
the stillness of soul silence.
- sometimes we muse, ponder, meditate
- very often we just "be" in Being,
enfolded into the embrace of Divine Love
We quiet down to be lifted up.
Silence isn't golden.
It's platinum plus!
If you care to, over the next few days
please use the generous portion of
Meditation Markers
that follow to ever more sensitize
to silence and its sacred spaciousness.
Pick and choose what
speaks silence to your spirit
It might be a helpful Lent experience.
Lastly, I thank you for being part of
our weekly sharing here at "frankly speaking."
I also thank many of you for your referrals,
for introducing your friends and colleagues
to "frankly speaking."
As I have learned over the past year of this blog,
your introduction of it to others
is the primary way people find out about it
and is the main way our gathering here
is shared with others.
Our sharing here now includes
participants from my homeland
here in the USA
and thirty other countries around
our global community.
I do my best not to get caught up
in the numbers game,
but these numbers do encourage me.
They encourage me
to continue trying to serve you
by supporting our mutual spiritual journey
out here on the street of everyday living
through "frankly speaking."
Thank you for the trust, company,
the referrals and the encouragement.
See you next week.
For sure, holding each and all in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
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MEDITATION MARKERS
Suggested Approach:
In a quiet time and place,
outside and inward,
reflect on one of these prompts:
- what does it mean?
- what does that meaning hold for me?
- how can I embrace it, live it?
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Highly Recommended:
"Endangered Habitat," Why the soul needs silence,
by Stephanie Bennett is a masterful,
comprehensive study of how silence
is endangered in our culture
and how silence is essential for
the health of person and society.
http://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/technology/endangered-habitat
or
simply Google the article by title and author.
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From the Sufi Tradition - Rumi
- "Let silence take you to the core of life."
-"Your old life was a frantic running from silence.
Move out of the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence"
-"All is known in the sacredness of silence."
-"Last night
I begged the Wise One to tell me
the secret of the world.
Gently, gently, he whispered,
'Be quiet,
the secret cannot be spoken.
It is wrapped in silence.' "
- "Keep silent, because
the world of silence
is a vast fullness."
-The Silk Worm
"I stood before a silk worm one day.
And that night my heart said to me,
'I can do things like that,
I can spin skies.
I can be woven into love
that can bring warmth to people:
I can be soft against a crying face,
I can be wings that lift,
and I can travel on my thousand feet
throughout the earth,
my sacs filled with the sacred."
And I replied to my heart,
'Dear, can you really do all those things?'
And it just nodded 'Yes' in silence.
So we began and will never cease."
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From the Buddhist Tradition - Buddha
-"Silence is an empty space,
space is the home
of the awakened mind."
-"Do not speak unless
it improves on silence."
-"Bring your mind to noble silence.
Unify your mind in noble silence.
Concentrate your mind in noble silence...
Enter into pure rapture and pleasure
born of silence
derived of concentration and awareness
that is free from thought and fabrication."
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From the Taoist Tradition - Lao Tzu
-"Returning to the source is stillness.
It is returning to one's fate.
returning to one's fate is eternal."
-"Attain utmost emptiness.
Abide in steadfast stillness."
-"A multitude of words is tiresome,
unlike remaining centered."
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From the Christian Tradition
-"But Jesus often withdrew
to lonely places to pray."
Luke 5: 16
-"Now during those days
he (Jesus) went out
to the mountain to pray;
and he spent the night
in prayer to God."
Luke 6: 12
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From the Hindu Tradition
-"Silence is the first door to spiritual eminence."
Adi Shankaracharya
-"There is something beyond our mind
which abides in silence
within our mind.
It is the Supreme Mystery
beyond thought.
Let one's mind and one's body
rest upon that
and not rest
on anything else,"
Maitri Upanishad
*********************************************************
From the Jewish Tradition
-"Be still and know that I am God."
Psalm 46:10
-"For thus said the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel,
'In returning and rest
shall you be saved;
in quietness and trust
shall be your strength.' "
Isaiah 30:15
-"Be still before the Lord,
and wait patiently
for him."
Psalm 37:7
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