Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. -Marcus Tullius Cicero
I have been talking a lot about prayer recently and so I thought I should talk about shutting up. I have finished writing the midday office and in that I have included a period of silence...not meditation, not personal prayer but real silence.
Managing silence is not easy because that is when the bogey man can come out and start to run amuck in our heads. This is not all bad.... sometimes we need to listen to our inner noise just to be able to remove it.
Silence can strip you bare and open you up to that greater connection. Silence is not an emptiness it is a deep fullness. We are more and more living in a world of instant communication and people are sharing nearly every thought that pops in their heads. There is so much energy consumed in saying nothing. This form of truly external living is very one sided. When do you recharge. When do you fill up again? When do you start to really communicate? These are the challenges of silence. Am I ready for all of these? The answer is quite simply no not yet, but I do know it is time to start.
It is in silence that I am finding a new power to face myself and to be happy with myself. How often are you silent? Not doing anything just sitting and waiting. This is when the Gods may just answer you?