Sunday, August 2, 2015

Appreciation of Silence

 
 
 
 
ADIRDONACK PINES
 
Robert Trabold
 
 
Stately pines reaching to sky
deep blue  that only
Adirondack Mountains can paint.
Sun is clear - strong
tree branches reach out for its
life giving nourishment.
 
Pines – sky – sun light
each a silence
broken only by gentle breeze
whistling through pine trees
breeze so peaceful – so soft – adds to
silence of the woods.
 
So many years I walked - sat
among these stately pines.
Why do I come back?
I tell my friends I meet Someone here.
 
Silence of Adirondack pines
echoes silence of God – Absolute
my Beloved.
Being there is a walk in mystery
mystery in the Adirondack blue sky
also a presence
within me – at my center – at my still point.
 
I rest in this mystery – letting gentle breeze
touch me
soft kiss of Someone who loves me.
Feel my breathing in and out – pointing to
presence at my center.
 
Continue to look at blue sky – soaring pines
let silence - beauty run over me
inundate me – embrace me.
Say no words because in silence of pines
my Beloved is wooing me.
 
Gentle call!
No words of mine fit the situation
I sit in quiet - let it wash over me.
Joy!
 
 
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APPRECIATION OF SILENCE
 
 
Robert Trabold
 
 
 
            The summer time may be a chance when we can come to appreciate what silence is in our life. When we think and talk about silence, it appears to us as a mysterious thing. In one sense, it is out of step with our modern life.  Many of us live in these big cities and are busy and overwhelmed with activities. We have our life of work, family, studies and education, etc. This fast pace is now faster with the advent of the social media and the cell phones. We can be contacted wherever we are and are pressurized to respond with texts and messages. So silence is somewhat strange.  It is drowned out in the fast pace of living.
 
            In the summer time, however, we may have more opportunities to step out of this hectic pace of modern living. For many of us in the temperate zone, the weather gets warmer and nature that has been asleep in the winter comes alive and there are chances to be outside and enjoy the beauties of the natural world. There may be a slackening of the pace of our duties with vacation time and opportunities to be in our gardens or the seashore or the mountains. These days then can be the advent of silence and reflection on our life. For example, I am lucky to live near the Atlantic Ocean and look forward spend time walking along the beaches and seashore. I have a garden at home and enjoy in the summer the opportunity to sit outside in the evening. I admire the loveliness of the summer flowers and feel the quiet of the garden and nature. I cannot do this in the winter time because it is too cold to sit outside.
 
            So the summer can be a time of silence and quiet and give us opportunities to grow in the contemplative dimension of our life. It gives us a space to reflect on who we are, where we are going in life and what are the goals and ultimate end of our living. So in these moments of quiet and reflection, we become aware of silence and uncover new riches for our human living. These spaces can be ones where we pull things together in our life, see things in a new and deeper way. Silence then loses some of sense of difference from our ordinary life and we realize it as a necessary part of human living.
 
            As contemplatives who meditate twice a day in silence and repeat our mantra, it is an encounter with Someone who is very important for us. In the silence of our prayer, we encounter a presence who is mysterious and transcendent but who also wants to reveal Himself/Herself to us. There is darkness in this encounter because we are meeting the divine. Yet despite this darkness, we feel that the Lord is reaching out to us and wants to enter a relationship of mutual love. Contrary to our feeling that silence can be empty, it is rather full with an important meeting. John Main mentions that in our meditation and contemplation, we meet the ground of our being, the primordial Spirit around which we are to orientate our life. It is no longer empty but now is filled with the presence of Someone with whom we journey on earth. We are no longer torn between different ways of living which the modern world presents to us. Some can be good, others detrimental to us. We are meeting the Lord Jesus who takes us by the hand and leads us on earth and hopefully to eternal life.
 
            With the encounter with God in this quiet time, silence loses some of it mystery and we become aware of its beauty and depth. Quiet time may not be the most popular thing in modern living but in our contemplative prayer, we have found a pearl of great value. John Main mentions that we find the one who is the ground of our life, gives it meaning and deep value. We do not let the many activities of our daily modern life overwhelm us but now have an anchor to guide our living on earth. So it behooves us to take advantage of the possible slowdown in our daily activities which the summer and vacation time offer us and so enter more deeply into silence and quiet time. This will enrich our life and help us continue on our contemplative path.
 
 
 
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