Sometimes It’s Best To Be Silent

Inner silence can bridge divides.

Beth Bradford, Ph.D.

--

Photo by yonatan anugerah on Unsplash

In a world that tells us that we need to be heard, we need to be right, or we need to belong, there is a different world deep beneath.

This world needs no identity. This world doesn’t cling to an ideology that might be obsolete in 100 years. This world leaves behind all attachments to the ego.

This is the world of inner silence. It’s not a world beyond sound. It’s a space beyond the noise. It’s the void before an utterance. It is the muse that inspires words of peace.

When I “try” to think of something deep or profound to write, something that will be applauded by many, something that will win me the affection I crave, nothing really comes. It’s just noise.

We abandon thoughts of what ought to be and what should be.

When I let go and allow the silence to speak, words arrive. They don’t come from me, they come from the deep silence. They don’t want. They don’t need. They just are.

Some great sages have written about this silence. Verse 56 of the Tao Te Ching describes this silence as the “primal union” and the “highest state of man.”

This silence extends beyond our world of “self.” The Cloud of Unknowing calls us to place this world of “self” into the “cloud of forgetting.” We abandon thoughts of what ought to be and what should be.

In Treatise 65, Syrian theologian Isaac of Nineveh describes silence as a means to dispel ignorance. He implores us to find this essence that is beyond words. He writes, “Love silence above all things. It brings thee near the fruit which the tongue is too weak to interpret.”

Silence becomes our refuge when our minds and our surroundings carry us away in their negativity. We sit in silence and observe all thoughts, sounds, and feelings. We don’t get carried away with them because we’re anchored in silence. They all wash over us.

Silence brings us hope, not necessarily for a particular outcome, but that all things are as they should be. It reminds us that there are many of us in the equation beyond what we can see.

--

--

Beth Bradford, Ph.D.

Former TV person, college professor and media researcher. Ironman triathlete, meditation teacher and yoga instructor. https://www.brad4d-wellness.com