We have found it difficult to embrace silence, and yet times of silence are necessary for our own personal, psychological and spiritual well-being. We need to journey within our own very being, cutting ourselves off everything outside of ourselves, to attain silence and the peace which silence can bring. Once we do so, we must be patient, and accept the silence, not trying to fill the void with anything, including and especially our own thoughts. Of course, as we are not used to doing so, we will find thoughts arising in our minds; when they do, we should not let them disturb us, but ignore them, letting them go back to where they came. If not, if we then become so focused and concerned about them that we find it impossible to rest in silence.
Thus, we need to find a way to embrace silence, within and without, and when we have attained such silence, to sit still embrace the silence, finding the peace which is available when we cut aside all our earthly cares. Then, we should await in hope for the coming of the presence of God, for God will often come in the midst of that silence, bringing to us an experience not only of greater peace, but the glory of the kingdom of God which always comes to us when we find ourselves in God’s presence.
Engaging such silence is not easy, but it has become even more difficult in in the present age because we have artificial sounds and noises all around us, sounds which we become so accustomed to that we often find it unnerving when they no longer are there. We have become, as it were, addicted to the noise. Like other addictions, we gain some pleasure from it, but also, the more we embrace it, the less we get from it, but if we try to halt our engagement with it, we find ourselves experiencing all kinds of withdrawal symptoms which make us wonder if we can or should cut ourselves from all that noise. If we do not gain control of it, we risk “sensory overload”:
Silence means a void, a dreadful emptiness that demand to be filled. What we chose to fill that void with most often produces, not only noise, but agitation through over-stimulation. Sensory overload is addictive. It becomes an escape from the present, from the self, from God. [1]
Raised, as we are, with noise all around us, and with our own thoughts and inordinate desires adding to the noise, it has become extremely difficult for us to embrace proper detachment, the kind of detachment we need to silence ourselves. Many of us will need help to do so, and a good way to gain it is to receive spiritual direction which help us determine the proper balance we need to make silence possible for us; this is because, like all addicts, we will tend to lie to ourselves concerning our addiction and the extent of the problem we are facing. To be sure, some of us can do so with less direction than others, but what is key is to make sure we give ourselves the time we need to distance ourselves from all external and internal distractions, to engage silence, so that we can then find and discover the way God is at work with us. It is in that silence we will find ourselves transcending every thought or conception of God which we would impose upon God, allowing then God to truly be God and be the one who works with us and bring about our spiritual healing:
To me, first place seems given to silence, that is, to God who transcends every thought and name [Phil 2.9]. Once the soul breaks from evil, it always seeks and desires to be sewn into the object of its search, God, who is loftier than all our words. [2]
This is how we will find, by experience, that the kingdom of God, heaven, is not something outside us; it is in us, and with us, and all around us. We will find heaven within, and in that heavenly experience, we will declare the glory of God, sharing what we have experienced with others:
For the soul of a righteous person is “heaven,” as the Lord said through the prophet: “Heaven is my throne.” And: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” So then, when the silence of the contemplative life is settled in the mind, there is silence in heaven, because the clamor of earthly activities recedes from thought, so that the soul inclines to the secret internal ear. [3]
It is important that we do not take one addiction and make a new one out of it, that is, we must not embrace silence in a way we undermine ourselves and our ability to respond to God. We embrace silence as a foundation for our engagement with God. We must then take what God reveals to us in that silence and work with it, using it in our daily lives, sharing it with others. Thus, we must embrace the middle way between silence and speech, between our waiting for God and God’s action and our response to God. “When it comes to words about God and searching his essence there is a time for silence, but when it concerns some good operations of which we have knowledge, it is time to speak of God’s power, miracles and works which necessitate words.” [4]
The more we speak based upon our experience of God, especially the experience of God as we receive in in our time of silence, the more we can learn how much transformation lies ahead for us:
A healthy kind of relationship with words and silence comes out of an integrated and balanced sense of self and a wholesome relationship with power. Words easily reveal poor self-image, bitterness, unresolved anger, or a perverted relationship with power. Our speech can also reveal a heart of gratitude, joy, and a sense of adventure.[5]
We are called to participate in a disciplined form of asceticism, one which works with our calling in life (which is why it can be and will be different for those who are called to religious life and those called for secular life). It should be one which encourages us to embrace a disciplined form of silence as a part of its directives. We need to learn how to find peace in silence. But we must do more. We must also learn how to live and thrive in the world. We must recognize that our temporal existence is itself a good which we must embrace. We must not, that is, turn a love for silence into a quietism which would lead us question why we even exist in temporality, which is what we would do if all we are to do is silence ourselves and live in the silence, doing nothing else. Without proper direction, without proper discipline, this remains a threat.
[1] John Breck, ”Prayer of the Heart: Sacrament of the Presence of God,” in The Contemplative Path. Ed. E. Rozanne Elder (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995), 41
[2] St. Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on Ecclesiastes. Trans. Richard McCambly. Ed. John Litteral (Ashland, KY: Litteral’s Christian Library Publications, 2014), 69 [Homily 7].
[3] Anonymous, “Testimonies of Gregory the Great on the Apocalypse,” in Cassiodorus, St. Gregory the Great, and Anonymous Greek Scholia Writings On the Apocalypse. Trans. Francis X. Gumerlock, Mark DelCoglianto, and T.C. Schmidt (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 2022), 62 [From Homilies on Ezekiel 2.2 (353-365)].
[4] St. Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on Ecclesiastes, 71 [Homily 7].
[5] Laura Swan, Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today (Notre Dame, IN: Christian Classics, 2005), 101.
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