BASIC READING #3
From: The reading room @ the water’s edge, Spiritual Disciplines Lesson 2: Silence and Solitude
Silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life. – Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines
We receive only when we are recollected; only in silence is heard the beating of the heart of God. - Father Bernardo Olivera
It is a good discipline to wonder in each new situation if people wouldn’t be better served by our silence than by our words. – Henry J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart
There are many attitudes, actions, and assumptions, which are a part of our normal routines that are occluding God’s work of changing our hearts. Our first step to opening up our lives to God’s grace is to expose these “occlusions.” . . .
Noise and Company: Trying to Fill the Infinite with the Finite
…We have an infinite void in our hearts that we attempt to fill with noise, people, busy-ness, possessions, and other finite things. This is a major sickness in our culture.
We are addicted to noise.
Think about how much we hate to think… It is because we look at what our life really consists of, we are terrified by it vast emptiness.
…Do you know someone who is terrified of being alone? Is that person you?
…Think of all the things people do to “get their mind off it” – whatever “it” “might be.
We are addicted to company…However, our attempts to fill our lives with company will never satisfy the true hunger of the heart – community with God.
…time is necessary if one is to develop a true friendship with God. This must be time spent in solitude.
Solitude and Silence:Filling the Infinite Void with the Infinite Fullnes of God
Solitude is the practice of being absent from other people and other things so that you can be present with God. In solitude, we rest from our attempts to re-create the world in our image. We rest from arranging our relationships and manipulating people with our words. In solitude, we say to God, “I am here to be changed into whatever you like.” In solitude, we learn to “wait on the Lord.”
Solitude teaches us that we do not need other people in the way that we ususally think we need them. It teaches us that our value is not determined by our usefulness to others…Solitude teaches us to hear the voice of God…
Solitude forces us to face despair, yet it provides the only opportunity to discover the amazing power of God’s presence. … it is often in the midst of such experiences that God’s presence is most powerfully felt. It is only here that we truly comprehend the words of Jesus, “I am with you always”…
Silence is the practice of quieting every voice, including your own inner and outer voices.
Silence means being still so that we can hear the Voice that searches our hearts and minds. We must quiet our own hearts and mouths if we are to be able to listen to the voice of God.
Silence also means excusing ourselves from the voices of others…there is One Voice that is above all necessary for us to hear. For this reason, we must develop habits of being unavailable to the voices all around us so we can learn to hear the Divine Voice.
Silence is also necessay to free ourselves from our tendency to control…Thomas Merton wrote, “It is not speaking that breaks our silence, but the anxiety to be heard.” When we are silent, it is much more difficult to manipulate and control the people and circumstances around us. Words are the weapons we lay down when we practice silence…Silence forces to surrender to the will of Another.
Solitude and silcence, combined with an engaged mind. These are the practices to open our lives up to the grace of God. God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). They are the practices of waiting on the Lord. They are active stillness. They are readying one’s heart to receive.
Solitude and silence, combined with a mind that is actively waiting on God will enable us to view life as God reveals it to us. We will consider our actions and the motives behind them. We will consider the actions of others and allow God to season our response with compassion and forgiveness…
Solitude and silence, when matched with such attention, destroy the darkness of loneliness as we recognize that there is One who is eternally present with us. No longer will we coerce people into paying attention to us. ..We are freed from the suffocating chains of isolation as we recognize that we are not alone.
In silence and solitude, we discover that our infitely empty lives can only find fulfillment in an infinite God…
The most fantastic thing occurs when we develp what Brother Lawrence termed, “the practice of the presence of God.” …God removes the “continual lust for more” (Eph 4:19) that results from a life apart from Him, and replaces it with contentment and ridiculous generosity.
Silence and solitude combined with attention to the presence of God; these are the starting point for all other practices. They place us where we may listen to hear God’s perspective on our world, our circumstances, our goals, and our relationships.
