"moments of silence feed the soul"

[elazar]

found this great one in the herald sun.

indian spiritual leader mahama ghandi observed a regimen of strict silence on mondays,a practice he would not interrupt,even for a meeting with the king of england.
gandhi said the enforced silence was his "cure for spiritual deafness."
"i only hear g-d speaking when i am quiet."he simply said.
the buddha withdrew to purge himself of social illusions.jesus retreated alone into the desert for 40 days and nights before starting his mission.

today,they may be regarded as crazy,self-obsessed,shaggy hermits.
but,as scholar thomas merton once said:"to be really mad,you need other people.when you are by yourself,you soon get tired of your crazyness.it is too exhausting."it is in deep solitude that i find the gentleness with which i can truely love my brothers."solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they say."

quite hearts seem rare these days.the age is geared to speed and sound.it has become so built-in that we keep our tvs and steroes blaring because we cannot stand the silence.
silence must be filled.they are like the feared "dead time" on radio and tv,where every second must be filled by an image or a voice.even many church services seem overly loud.
exept perhaps,for those run by the nonconformist quakers.communal silence is regular in quaker services.the time of deep stillnessis used to meditate and connect with g-d.
one of the beautiful old testiment psalms-the 46-says "be still and know that i am g-d."
then there is the story of elijah on mt. horeb,waiting for g-d to pass by.g-d was not in the great wind,or in the earthquake,or the fire,but in the "sound of sheer silence".ancient jewish scholars supposed that g-d dwelt in the centre of our souls,"where words are shut out".

today,the quest for inner peace seems both critical and difficult.
we may crave silence,but we are afraid of it.an inability to stay quiet is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind,yet silence often leads us to the place of contemplation where wecan find ourselves-and g-d.

it seems g-d cannot be easily seen or heard in noise and restlessness.and we need silence to touch our souls.
the most powerful way to connect with another is to listen.loving silences often have more power to heal than clever words.
musician andre kostelanetz said:"everybody should have his personal sounds to listen for - sounds that will make him exhilarated and alive or quiet and calm.one of the greatest sounds of them all - and to me it is a sound - is utter complete silence."
historian steven halpern noted that when mozart was composing at the end of the 18th century,his vienna was so quiet,fire alarms could be given by shouting watchmen from the top of st.stephans cathedral.

beethovens wrote some of his greatest works after walking alone for hours in the vienna woods,sketching ideas in notebooks.now we live in the age of high-tech speed and noise - mozarts and beethovens are hard to find.
do we really need better,faster,louder technology?is information going to save the world,or faster computers and better music systems?is it not quiet wisdom that humanity needs?
echart tolle,author of "the power of now",says when we lose touch with inner stillness,we lose touch with ourselves.
when we lose touch with ourselves,we lose ourselves n the screaming madness of the world.
tolle says stillness is our essential nature.we just need to learn how to find it again.
a chinese proverb states that the way to fame is through the palaces;the way to happiness goes through the markets;the way to virtue goes alone through the deserts.
stillness may be hard to find,but maybe we shouldbe prepared to go out on a limb in the search.
thats where the fruit is.

- bryan patterson
faithworks shsletters@sundayheraldsun.com.au


salut,
elazar

[lizzytysh]

Thanks for printing this here, Elazar. Its wisdom is well explained within it. I agree with the descriptions of today's world. I feel blessed that my days are not punctuated by the sound of exploding bombs. I don't know how feasible it is for me to actually do this; however, I'm going to print this out and try to implement it for myself in the workplace. I'll post your posting, so people will understand ~ or at least are provided the tools for understanding . Fortunately, I currently have the kind of job where doing it is not totally out of the question. If it's do-able there, I may cease coming here, as well, on Mondays, at least for awhile.....and just see how a regular day of 'enforced' silence feels. [Henceforth, Partisan/Heretic's ~ well, okaaay, some others', as well ~ favourite day will, by default, become Mondays .] I've had days at home where I haven't spoken with humans, but have still communicated aloud with my cats and dog. We'll see how it all goes. Reading it, it sure feels right.

~ Elizabeth

[Zabka]

THat's really great! Thanks Elazar...just what I needed to read.

And it was in the sun herald?

Z

[witty_owl]

Re this topic 'silence' may I refer you to "Ode to Silence" in the members poetry section.

Moments of silence are not quite so common in this busy "post, post modern world". Moving away from the clamour is easily achievable, as is switching off the sound of appliances. However turning off the inner chatter is a psychological noise not so easy to escape.

Cheers, W. O.

[Mark B.]

Witty

Will you give it a rest.

[lizzytysh]

[Now, that's a thematically-correct comment, Mark .]

[Zabka]

Has anyone heard from Elazar??