In a culture addicted to noise, silence is startling and uncomfortable. Our world filled with technology and social media never stops speaking, be it with words, pictures or videos. Shutting out the world is not about turning your back on your surroundings, it is seeing the world a little more clearly and learning to love your life the way it is. Silence is to the mind and body, what light is to the plants. In the absence of light no plant can survive. Similarly a mind crowded with thoughts is dead as it has no place to learn new things. Silence holds immense power. When we learn to still the mind, we are able to create what we want in life instead of reacting impulsively because of a restless mind. Silence is the nourishment of our mind just as a restful sleep would be nourishment to the body. It is the power of quiet in a world full of noise.
There is a time to speak and a time to remain silent. So when is it necessary to keep quiet? This is the art of wisdom. Rarely does one learn anything new by speaking. It is in the stillness of silence that we become more receptive. As I empty myself of all the noise around me I begin to feel the presence of the universe and nature more than before. In this state of awareness we have no religion and are able to converse with our creator without any language. There is a growing peace and quiet both within and without me. Silence gives us time to turn down the inner noise and increase awareness of what matters most and it cultivates mindfulness and appreciation of the present moment. How beautiful it is to remain silent when someone wants to see you enraged. When we believe in ourselves the need for outside approval disappears instantly. Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is better than silence. Silence is the best reply to a fool. It takes more courage to remain silent than to answer. To the world silence is weakness.
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This is how the Roman authorities perceived the silence of Jesus during his trial before Pilate. 2022 years later we still remember and meditate on that silence. No one remembers Pilate. We are living in the dawn of a new beginning. Traditional religious and spiritual ways are in decline and new ways are replacing them. When we realise that there is a voice in our head which pushes us to being a seeker that is the beginning of our consciousness and awareness journey. Like space is everywhere, the divine is present in everyone, in all beings, in everything. In the words of Swami Vivekananda – Christ, Buddha and Krishna are but waves in the Ocean of the infinite consciousness that I am. All life begins and ends in silence. It is therefore essential that we maintain that same silence during our life on this earth; any understanding, whatever can only be conceived in a still and silent mind.
Everyone and everything that shows up in the world of form in this universe originates not from a particle, as quantum physics teaches us, but from an energy field. That energy field can be called God, soul spirit or consciousness. We are all so deeply connected we have no option but to love all as we live in all. Solitude and silence become spiritual disciplines and their benefits expand to the spirit. You and I are embers from the same fire. We are dust from the same stars. It is only in the realm of nothingness that we can meet each other. Silence is a place of great power and healing. It is not something empty but full of answers. Silence is a long lasting friend. But we need to nurture and pay attention to it.
Do not keep away from your feelings it is part of your healing. The ego seeks to divide and separate us. The Spirit seeks to unify and heal every living creature on this earth. When we re-connect with Mother Nature we re-connect to everything else. It is our own disconnect that is causing us all our pain and suffering. Paradise and heaven are not places; it is a state of consciousness. We live two lives: We live life in our thoughts and we live life as our experience of the present moment. Freedom comes as our life in thoughts diminishes and our experience of the present moment predominates. It comes through learning how to balance thoughts and the present moment. Freedom is the fruit of having fewer thoughts. It is here that one discovers the answers to every query of life.
The miracle of our existence lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate and honour the uniqueness and freedom of every person. We are all so deeply interconnected, we have no option but to love all. We live in everyone and everyone lives in us. As we grow in our consciousness there will be more compassion and more love, and then the barriers between people – between religions and between nations will begin to fall. Let us begin to practise this virtue of silence and in doing so hear the voice of our creator and his universe.
(The writer is a social scientist and a senior practising criminal lawyer).
