Spiritual: April 18, 2012 Issue [#4999] |
Spiritual
This week: Golden Silence Edited by: KimChi More Newsletters By This Editor
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Welcome to the Spiritual Newsletter. I'm Kimchi, your hostess this week.
This newsletter explores matters of the spirit; it's a place to talk about little concerns of the heart and the big questions of the soul. Feel free to add your comments, questions, and ideas for topics.
The Spiritual Newsletter Team
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"Silence is golden.'
Growing up I assumed this aphorism was created specifically to give parents a break from their raucous kids, going hand in hand with "children should be seen and not heard." But children know they're born to be loud, wild, social creatures, fighting it out individually to learn how to make peace together. Silence to a child is like surgery without anesthesia; so painful they can only endure a small portion before fight or flight sets in and they run away screaming.
It's not normal for adults either. Our duties and hobbies keep us hustling so that oftentimes we literally cannot hear ourselves think. Here in the city "silence" is the lack of siren, but even a bucolic country life holds an undercurrent of natural noise. We learn to ignore the hum of traffic and ridiculously chipper birdsong at 5:00 AM because we're, ahem, civilized.
Silence is golden because it's rare. Complete silence in nature is eerie, usually a sign of impending disaster. Intuitively we understand the arrival of the extra-ordinary in silence, but humans have gone beyond, turning our inner knowledge into cultural celebration. Purposeful silence is holy; a time outside of time for sacraments of praise or mourning, deliberately tuning out life's external cacophony in favor of inner awareness. This state of nothingness called silence leaves the ears and heart open to hear God's voice and accept His blessings.
As we age we tend to shy away from noise and stay to ourselves as a defense mechanism, roughly timed to coincide with losing our hearing. Men lose the ability to hear high pitched noises, and women lose the ability to discern gravelly tones. It's why Grandma and Grandpa can't understand a word the other says, but still love each other dearly. The golden years of encroaching silence hold a well deserved respite from life's din and maybe a few more chances to master the art of truly listening.
None of us are assured a long, robust life but we can hold each day open to the possibilities simple silence holds: creative inspiration, peaceful contemplation, and vivid memories. Plus you know, practice makes perfect, so if my husband and I make it the rocking chairs I'll be a pro at ignoring him.
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Echoes of Silence
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Canopies of black suspended in sky
Billowing beneath Mother Nature's sigh.
I have been silent
all these years
living in this cell
you call home.
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Silence is my best friend
Always with me in honoring my pain
Presenting me with calmness
Peace of mind, I cherish.
Sitting silent as
thoughts turn and
race from your mind,
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She sings the sweetest of melodies.
Yet exists surrounded by silence.
The calming peace of her hills and dales
recharges my sense of happiness.
Charlotte gazed at all the mouths moving around her and willed them to stop because the noise they produced was not just unpleasant but painful. |
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