Silence

Silence is not simply the absence of noise. Granted, this is often a welcome thing! But there is a kind of silence in the rustling of leaves and the chirp of birds in nature, the murmur of conversation in a café and even the music of a festival. The point is that all of these things are sound in its rightful place – it is sound rather than noise. Welcoming them into our lives is still to dwell in ‘silence’; it is still to allow us peace of mind as opposed to distraction – and indeed, unwanted distraction. So we might say that silence is a state of mind rather than some actual state of noise or lack of noise. It might better be described as ‘tranquillity’, or a state of ‘quiet’, or some such term – but for the sake of simplicity I’ll stick with the word silence in this essay. Silence is a place brimming with potential. Silence is a means of listening to something beyond ourselves – whether the universe, or ‘the voice of God’. Silence can be for the sake of seeking some outer guidance or to find the authentic self. If, like me, you consider this kind of contemplation amongst some of the most useful things that any person can do, then it’s worthwhile noting that silence will be a key ingredient in this process. I might struggle to convince the reader here of the benefits of ‘contemplation’ or even to explain what it is we are meant to be contemplating! But whatever our beliefs about life, let’s just say we are in a position of ignorance. The atheist may wonder about how the universe came to be. The believer may be asking what God wants them to do. All of us may be watching how we respond to the world and waiting to see change within ourselves. All of this, I’m just calling mystery. There is mystery in a thunderstorm, a waterfall and waves crashing on a rocky shoreline. But for the most part, mystery is a much quieter affair. It is silence, the stars at night, the changing patterns of clouds and sunlight, the buzzing of insects and chirping of birds. All of this goes on around us, even in urban environments, but so often we do not stop and take the time to appreciate these wonders. Perhaps we might consider these things to be trivial, especially in a world that faces such severe difficulties. But without such ‘trivial’ things, there is no world! Silence is the means by which our thoughts gain traction. It is this process that allows our authentic selves to become aware of true feelings, to let go of negative ways and to create new ways of being in the world. So silence is the space between thoughts if you will, where we can stand back from the usual babble of inner conversation and try to discern other voices. Two strands appear in this process of contemplation. The contemplation of mystery, it could be said, is about stepping away from ourselves, recognising that there’s much that we do not understand and probably never will understand and surrendering to the strange and unfathomable ways of the cosmos. The second strand – whatever our religious, spiritual, or scientific convictions – is to ask the question, what is it I’m supposed to do? Or even, what is it I am supposed to be? So it is that search for the authentic self and a clear path through the world. The first way I’ve identified is – if you will – a dissolving of the self. The second way is a strengthening of the self – a strengthening of the ego. In many circles, especially those preferring to be called ‘spiritual’ rather than ‘religious’, the ego is seen as the enemy. It is self-justifying, fearful, jealous, hates to be shown up as wrong and takes itself very seriously. When someone is described as having a ‘big ego’ it means they are perhaps arrogant, enjoy wielding power over others and are likely not to be too good at hearing alternative opinions from their own. Perhaps though, I suggest, these are just descriptions of a bad or a weak ego. I do not follow the line that ego is definitely all bad. We need an ego to be active in the world. Perhaps there is a good ego – generous, compassionate and open-minded. Perhaps the ‘authentic self’ is really just a good, strong, healthy ego. Closely related to silence is the idea of stillness. Stillness buys us time. It’s not that external time is changed in some way. Instead it’s about an inner perception of time. Time is an extremely flexible medium in our thought world. I am tempted to say that time does not really exist and if we saw the universe as it really is then we would dwell outside of time. But that is not quite true – we will always be creatures immersed in time. To try to alter our lives in some way (either as an expression of ‘authentic self’ or for some other reason) is to engage in a time-bound project. And the time-bound is likely to be frustrated by problems and setbacks, highs and lows. New thoughts, feelings and ways of being in the world may take years to come to the surface. Or it may be that there is a ‘mustard-seed moment’, when a new thought or idea seems to have arrived at just the right moment. Or again there might be a moment of revelation, a ‘Damascus Road’ experience, when the scales fall from our eyes and life suddenly looks very different. It is likely though that such apparently sudden change has had a long legacy of much more subtle insights and perceptions that just haven’t surfaced consciously until the critical moment. This is where watching and waiting come in – not trying to force or construct things for ourselves but being patient and letting insight arrive in its own time. Silence and stillness are routes to peace – and peace, I suggest, is our ultimate aim – our ultimate work in the world, stated in the broadest of terms. And perhaps peace with oneself, peace with our circumstances, peace with others and peace with God and/or the Universe cannot easily be separated. Through silence and stillness we find that peace.