{"id":23895,"date":"2024-07-01T10:49:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T14:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23895"},"modified":"2024-07-01T11:08:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T15:08:17","slug":"the-gift-of-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23895","title":{"rendered":"The Gift of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Simon &amp; Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence (Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DCtouot15cA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Monastics should diligently cultivate silence at all times.\u202f<br>\u2014St. Benedict, Rule, chapter 42&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Richard Rohr, silence is a foundation upon which we can build our lives:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Silence is not just that which happens around words and underneath images and events. It has a life of its own. It\u2019s a phenomenon with an almost physical identity. It is a being in itself to which we can relate. <\/strong>Philosophically, we would say being is that foundational quality which precedes all other attributes. When we relate to the naked being of a thing, we learn to know it at its core. <strong>Silence is somehow at the very foundation of all reality. It is that out of which all being comes and to which all things return<\/strong>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Silence precedes, undergirds, and grounds everything. We cannot just think of it as an accident, or as something unnecessary.<strong> Unless we learn how to live there, go there, abide in this different phenomenon, the rest of things\u2014words, events, relationships, identities\u2014become rather superficial, without depth or context. <\/strong>They lose meaning, so we end up searching for more events and situations which must increasingly contain ever-higher stimulation, more excitement, and more color to add vital signs to our inherently bored and boring existence. <strong>Really, the simplest and most stripped-down things ironically have the power to give us the greatest happiness\u2014if we respect them as such. Silence is the essence of simple and stripped down. \u202f&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We need to experience silence as a living presence which is primordial and primal in itself, and then see all other things\u2014now experienced deeply\u2014inside of that container.<\/strong> Silence is not just an absence, but also a presence. <strong>Silence surrounds every \u201cI know\u201d event with a humble and patient \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/strong> It protects the autonomy and dignity of events, persons, animals, and all things.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We must find a way to return to this place, to live in this place, to abide in this place of inner silence. Outer silence means very little if there is not a deeper inner silence. <\/strong>Everything else appears much clearer when it appears or emerges out of a previous silence. <strong>When I use the word appear, I mean that silence takes on reality, substance, significance, or meaning. Without silence around a thing, which is a mystery, it can be difficult to find a meaning that lasts.<\/strong> It\u2019s just another event in a sequence of ever-quicker events, which we call our lives.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without silence, we do not really experience our experiences. <strong>We have many experiences, but they do not have the power to change us, to awaken us, to give us that joy or \u201cpeace that the world cannot give,\u201d as Jesus says (John 14:27).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>_____________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Foundational Practice\u00a0<\/strong><br>\u00a0\u00a0<br>I die by brightness and the Holy Spirit. \u2014Thomas Merton\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Father Richard emphasizes the beautiful freedom that arises when we place contemplation at the center of our lives:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I believe that the combination of human action from a contemplative center is the greatest art form. When action and contemplation are united, we have greater beauty, symmetry, and transformation\u2014lives and actions that inherently sparkle and heal, though the shadow is still present.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Contemplation waits for the moments, creates the moments, where all can be a silent prayer. <\/strong>It refuses the very distinction between action and stillness. <strong>Contemplation is essentially nondual consciousness that overcomes the gaps between me and God, outer and inner, either and or, me and you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason why the true contemplative-in-action is still somewhat rare is that most of us, even and most especially in religion, are experts in dualistic thinking. And then <strong>we try to use this limited thinking tool for prayer, problems, and relationships. It cannot get us very far. The irony of ego \u201cconsciousness\u201d is that it always excludes and eliminates the unconscious\u2014which means it is actually not conscious at all! Ego insists on knowing and being certain; it refuses all unknowing. Most people who think they are fully conscious (read, \u201csmart\u201d) have a leaden manhole cover over their unconscious. It gives them control but seldom compassion or wisdom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are led forward by brightness, a \u201clarger force field\u201d that includes the negative, the problematic, the difficult, the unknown\u2014that which we do not yet understand, the Mysteriousness that God always Is. Brightness does not exclude or deny anything.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We cannot grow in the great art form, the integrative dance of action and contemplation, without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain a certain degree of anxiety, and a willingness to not know\u2014and not even need to know. This is how we allow and encounter Mystery.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Of course, we can only do this if Someone Else is holding us as a great Lover, taking away our fear, doing the knowing, and satisfying our desire. If we can allow that Someone Else to embrace us, we will go back to our life of action with new vitality, but it will now be smooth, One Flow. It will be \u201cno longer you\u201d who acts or contemplates but the Life of One who lives in you now acting for you and with you and as you <\/strong>(see Galatians 2:20)!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Henceforth, it does not even matter whether we act or contemplate, contemplate or act, because both will be inside the One Flow, which is still and forever loving and healing the world. <strong>Christians would call it the very flow of life that is the Trinity. We \u201clive and move and have our being\u201d (Acts 17:28) inside of this one eternal life and love that never stops giving and receiving. This is how we \u201cdie by brightness and the Holy Spirit.\u201d [1] This is the greatest art form.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>_________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Let My Love seep into the inner recesses of your being. Do not close off any part of yourself from Me. I know you inside and out, so do not try to present a &#8220;cleaned-up&#8221; self to Me. Wounds that you shut away from the Light of My Love will fester and become wormy. Secret sins that you &#8220;hide&#8221; from Me can split off and develop lives of their own, controlling you without your realizing it.<\/strong><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>Open yourself fully to My transforming Presence. <\/strong>Let My brilliant Love-Light search out and destroy hidden fears. This process requires time alone with Me, as My Love soaks into your innermost being. Enjoy My perfect Love, which expels every trace of fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RELATED SCRIPTURE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Psalm 139:1-4 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong>Psalm 139<\/strong><br><strong>For the choir director: A psalm of David.<\/strong><br><strong>1 O Lord, you have examined my heart<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; and know everything about me.<\/strong><br><strong>2 You know when I sit down or stand up.<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; You know my thoughts even when I\u2019m far away.<\/strong><br><strong>3 You see me when I travel<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; and when I rest at home.<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; You know everything I do.<\/strong><br><strong>4 You know what I am going to say<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; even before I say it, Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional insight regarding Psalm 139:1-5: Sometimes we don&#8217;t let people get to know&nbsp;us completely because we are afraid they will discover something about us they won&#8217;t like. But God already knows everything about us, even the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30), and still he accepts and loves us. God is with us through every situation, in every trial &#8211; protecting, loving, guiding. He knows and loves us completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong>23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; test me and know my anxious thoughts.<\/strong><br><strong>24 Point out anything in me that offends you,<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; and lead me along the path of everlasting life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional insight regarding Psalm 139:23-24: David asked God to search for sin and point it out, even to the level of testing his thoughts. This is exploratory&nbsp;surgery for sin. <strong>How are we to recognize sin unless God points it out? <\/strong>Then, when God shows us, we can repent and be forgiven. Make this verse your prayer. If you ask the Lord to search your heart and your thoughts to reveal your sin, you will be continuing on &#8220;the path of everlasting life.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1st John 4:18 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong>18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional insight regarding 1st John 4:18: If we ever are afraid of the future, eternity, or God&#8217;s&nbsp;judgement, we can remind ourselves of God&#8217;s love. We know that he loves us perfectly (Romans 8:38,39 &#8211; &#8220;<em>38&nbsp;<\/em>And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God\u2019s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow\u2014not even the powers of hell can separate us from God\u2019s love.&nbsp;<em>39<\/em>&nbsp;No power in the sky above or in the earth below\u2014indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.&#8221;) We can resolve our fears first by focusing on his immeasurable love for us, and then by allowing him to love others through us. His love will quiet your fears and give you confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monastics should diligently cultivate silence at all times.\u202f\u2014St. Benedict, Rule, chapter 42&nbsp; For Richard Rohr, silence is a foundation upon which we can build our lives:&nbsp; Silence is not just that which happens around words and underneath images and events. It has a life of its own. It\u2019s a phenomenon with an almost physical identity. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23895"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23898,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23895\/revisions\/23898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}