Expressing Peace. Silence. 66.
Silence at Dawn
Stacy Waldman Bass
Usually when we begin to pray or meditate, we invite ourselves to silence.
That probably means we silence what we can: our spoken voice, the little voice in our mind, the physical distractions that we have the power to turn off. Only those things. Certainly we cannot control the ever-increasing barrage of sounds in the physical world around us.
Silence is an environment for peace. For some types of personal peace, silence may be prerequisite. Silence contributes to peace of mind, to inner peace, to peacefulness.
And, truth be known, silence is harder and harder to find. That is a shame because research shows that incessant noise around us
- Accelerates heart rate,
- Constricts the blood vessels,
- Elevates blood pressure,
- Interrupts sleep (which causes a “laundry list of ailments”.
What do we do? How do we immerse in silence and not just be silent ourselves?
We can visit Gordon Hempton’s One Square Inch, a sanctuary for silence at Olympic National Park in Washington state. But probably not every time we want to pray or meditate.
Meditation instructions are that we release the thoughts that intervene; we can try, when praying or contemplating, to ignore the physical noises in a similar way. That takes energy. Bold instructions to my mind to “silence the noise” have taken more energy still.
The recorded sounds on Hempton’s One Square Inch are not of silence but of beautiful nature: rain, birdsong, woodpecking, thunder, and more. Sounds not to be silenced but to be listened through. Listened through that we may hear the spiritual silence beyond the sensory beauty.
I suggest when listening for the silence, we listen through even the more mundane everyday noises. We release our being (mind/heart) to hear beyond the sounds of passing cars and slamming doors and public voices.
There is a silence filled with Peace. To hear that Peace we simply “overhear” the noises in the way.
Silent Speaking Spirit,
the blessing of being still and being quiet
is more than halfway to knowing Oneness in that moment
with you.
The added pleasure of knowing silence all around, hearing
and feeling its beauty carries me the rest of the way.
Experiencing the symphony beyond the earthtime noises
is more than hearing. It is loving Peace not just within
but also all around me.
It lets me love that silence is not the absence of anything;
it is the presence of Everything.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Silence. Express Peace.
In: Inner Peace, meditation, Peace, Peacefulness, Praying · Tagged with: Listening, Oneness, Silence, spiritual simplicity
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