WONDERS OF SILENCE...

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   “Inability to stay quiet is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind.” Walter Bagehot.
The scripture document, several times, the habit of the greatest Rabbi who ever whore sandals and whose wisdom and wit remains unmatched to date, “…but Jesus withdrew to lonely places…” He would deliberately slip away from the crowd and spend time alone. What followed the many hours in solitary places were days of power, wisdom and wit-three elements we have in scarcity today.
The definition of silence that I would like to adopt here is not merely the absence of noise, but a deliberate withdrawal from everything that craves for our attention. Being able to calm the mind, still the soul, rest the body and have an opportunity to penetrate into our inner world and find some peace and order in our inner sanctuary. Its closing our lips and ears and learning to introspect.
K.T Jong observed;
              “It is only when we silence our blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear
 the whispers of truth that life reveal to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts.”
Mother Teresa put it thus: “We need to find God and HE cannot be found in noise and relentlessness. God is the friend of silence. See the nature-trees, flowers, grass-grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…we need silence to be able to touch souls.”
We have moved from Stone Age to the noisy age; physical noise, mental noise and technological noise. Ours is a generation caught up in so much stuff craving for its attention. In our so-called “modern life,” we lose ourselves in the hustle and bustle. Our lives seem to revolve around the morning rush to work, the office and evening rush and back home to sleep exhausted.
Jean Arp observed;
“Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day, he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation…tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His human void spreads monstrously like grey vegetation.”
Having silenced the voice of intuition, we roll through life hoping to stumble in the right direction. We have forgotten that, as a German proverb goes, “Silence is a fence around wisdom and …it is the mother of truth.” The result? We lose our dreams and who we truly are. So, we get depressed, unhappy, confused, frustrated, unfulfilled, dissatisfied, empty and hopelessly miserable! Doesn’t that describe humanity today?
We have lost touch with the perfectly wise, calm and compassionate inner voice…the voice of wisdom from within. From the now popular morning radio talk shows to easily accessible internet on our cell phones, and the late night TV series we so religiously follow. Caught up in this jumble, we have disconnected with our true selves: our souls. Carl Jung once said,
           “To experience peace is very simple and always available to you. To experience
peace, gently let go off all else and allow peace to fill your awareness.”
That happens when we cannot savour some moments of silence. So, “by all means, use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear.” (George Herbert)
In his article, “15 Habits that will ruin your life,” Dr Joshua Arimi points out lack of time for solitude, meditation and quietness as one habit that is ruining many lives today. This, he writes, can be rectified by creating time to meditate and reflect. Fifteen effective minutes very early in the morning are good enough to simply create time for yourself. Spend time immersed in silence each morning before your day gets noisy.
Silence allows us to remove all the external and physical distractions in our lives and lets us focus upon the essence of our being – the soul. “LET US BE SILENT, THAT WE MAY HEAR THE WHISPERS OF THE GODS,” advises Ralph Emerson.
In silence, we get to hear the still small voice saying, “This is the way, walk by it.” In quiet moments, we refocus our efforts, reflect on what’s important to us and replenish our spirit inner man. “Silence is to the spirit what rest is to the body; nourishment and refreshment,” Wrote William Pen.
                 In quietness, you reconnect with your true, potent self.
Our spiritual dimensions regain control in quietness. When the spiritual leads the physical, the result is inner harmony. In silence, we reach within, listen to the whispers of the heart and bring the potential, passion and divine aspirations within into our physical world. Lyn Johnston puts it thus: “In silence, the soul finds the path to a clearer light and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into clearness.”
If only we could close our ears with as much ease as we do with our eyes, we wouldn’t live a life of noisy desperation. Don’t let noise be a tranquilizer for your inner issues, soothing them but never solving them. Listen to what your heart has been longing to share with you, that you’ve been busy to listen. I couldn’t agree more with Blaise Pascal: “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Wake earlier. Switch off the TV in the evening. Take 5 minutes in the office. By all means, spare some time and retreat to a place far away from the noise of your daily routines and just listen to your divine omniscient interior – the voice of wisdom. Hear clearly the song of your own purpose, the voice of the all-knowing God in you ordering your steps. Draw from the rich reservoir you are by reaching deep into a well of your true being.
               Silence the outer world and let your divine inner world go loud. Magnify who you truly are. the person in the image of God.
NEVER STOP FREQUENTING THE REFRESHING AND LIFE-GIVING TERRITORY OF SILENCE AND STILLNESS. Indeed, Silence is the most powerful scream. It is the way to revitalize your mind, replenish your spirit and rejuvenate your body.

Savour some moments of silence today and enjoy its wonders.






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