Wednesday, September 8, 2021

SILENT STILL

 

Dear All of Us,

Well, from here in 

Washington, DC

a good Monday Morning 

to you whatever day 

and time it is there.

As we get under way, 

please permit reference to 

personal experience

quickly becoming 

ancient history.


As a boy way back there 

in the 40's, I loved 

going to Temple.

That's what our 

parish church, 

town library, and

art museum 

were for me.

They were temples of

hushed wonder.

Entering them 

was stepping into

silent sanctuaries of

mystery and wonder,

still zones 

speaking goodness 

to my young soul. 

Those environments of

tranquil awe 

awakened me

to the sacred center

of my own soul,

The Still Point

that is God.

Now, as a young boy 

certainly didn't 

have words for it.

No matter.

The experience was 

real and sacred

and still is more than 

three quarters 

of a century later.


Our spiritual lives, 

at their freshest,

are a sacred and 

beautiful blend of

inner and outer,

action and contemplation,

silence, saying, singing,

Just now, let's take 

a touch of time

for the inner, 

time to hear 

the sounds of silence,

time to sense the sacred

in the wonder of 

  SILENT STILL

We slow soul it.

We soul sense it.


"Be still and know 

 that I am God."

  Psalm 46:10


"I think 99 times 

 and find nothing.

 I stop thinking,

 swim in silence, 

 and truth 

 comes to me."

 Albert Einstein


"The ego gets

 what it wants

 with words.

 The soul finds 

 what it needs

 in silence."

Author Unknown

Shared by Phillip Russo


"Cor ad cor loquitor."

(Heart speaks to heart.)

   Francis de Sales


"In Silence there is eloquence. 

 Stop weaving and see how 

 the pattern improves." 

           Rumi


"It is better in prayer to have 

 a heart without words

 than words without a heart."

       Mahatma Gandhi


"For now she needs not think 

 of anybody. She could be herself,

 by herself. And that was what now 

 she often felt the need of - to think; 

 well not even to think. 

 To be silent; to be alone. 

 All the being and the doing, 

 expansive, glittering, vocal, 

 evaporated; and one shrunk, 

 with a sense of solemnity, 

 to being oneself, 

 a wedge-shaped core 

 of darkness,

 something invisible to others...

 and this self having shed 

 its attachments was free 

 for the strangest adventures."

        Virginia Woolf, 

      To the Lighthouse



     It takes 

 SILENT STILL 

to journey to our 

deepest self, to

The Still Point 

at our core,

the point where God 

presents as us,

and is present to us.

Paradoxically our Still Point 

is that from which all our 

being and doing emanate.


Reality, us and all that is, 

have vast ranges  

of resonance.

Many most are in 

a silent-subtle-still frequency.

We can only "hear" them 

"soul-sense-see" them

in that zone of

   SILENT STILL

There's such much varied 

soundings-seeings-sensings in it.

We have so many "levels" 

to us - ever deeper 

than the immediacy 

of our ear hear,

of our think soundings,

of our surface stir.


Sensing is energy sharing.

That energy is 

way more than 

a decibel count,

or concept captive,

or sense scurry.

It thins to fullness

ever going deeper.

"Deep calls unto deep"

      Psalm 42:7

To take the call we need 

channels free of surface static.

To hear deeply we need 

deep still and silence.

To center in we need 

     SILENT STILL

That starts by turning down 

the volume of static 

on the surface of our living -

rush, stress, being over active,

over committed hurry,

too much media noise and "news."

Those things blitz our psyche

and block access to

    SILENT STILL

We slow and steady

the frenzy and the frenetic.

We make sure to regularly

get in our canoe and go out

on the lake of tranquility.

The Spirit may beckon us

to the fields, to a chapel,

to the woods, to an art museum,

to the quiet of our porch

or our bedroom.


There's a divine realm 

beyond thought and word,

beyond busy,

be that inner or outer.

Getting there is simple

     SILENT STILL


Now it's time for me to 

be just that.

      John Frank

       ******


Because I have a brain 

that just doesn't click 

like it used to, 

I forgot to mention 

in last week's posting

that the illustration about

the hitch hiker in Alaska

came, I think, from

The Book Of Awakenings

by Mark Nepo, MJF Books,

New York.

Gotta tell you,

this old age stage 

is something else!

As my feet shuffle

and my brain flubs

my spirit says:

"Who cares?

The peace and 

soul mellow

are so wonderful!!"

     ******


Every good wish 

and blessing 

to our Jewish 

sisters and brothers

during these

High Holy Days.

   SHALOM

   ******


 A HAPPY HEARTED 

       WECOME

      TO US ALL.

This week a special

        "Hi 5"

to those of us from 

Russia and Turkey.

        ******


     Please share 

  "frankly speaking"

spirituality for the street

with friends and associates.

       ONLINE POSTING

Wednesdays before dinner

(because I want to enjoy dinner

and go to bed early)

east coast USA time

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

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           ******

The Spirit speaks so clearly in

  The Sounds of Silence

           ******

 Looking forward to seeing 

      you next week.

           ******




























Hello!

So, those of us

"Ancient of days"

well remember going 

to the local library

as kids back in 

a distinctly different era.

It was like entering

this sacred space, a

Temple of Wonder.

It was sort of like 

going to church.