Thursday, October 19, 2006

What do you hear?




"Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description."

"Then how does one speak of God?"

"Through silence."
"Why then do you speak in words?"

At that, the Master laughed uproariously. He said,
"When I speak you mustn't listen to the words my dear. Listen to the silence"

Anthony de Mello

4 comments:

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

the finest muscians know when not to play and that fills the music with more information, mystery and power than any note played....

...i am reminded that i must spend less time thinking about what i see and more time thinking about why i see it that way

awareness said...

Can we call those musical moments grace notes?

I am reminded that the most profound part of a counselling session is found in the silent moments.

Balbulican said...

Robbie Robertson once said that his technique consisted of figuring out how many notes he could omit...and when he couldn't spare another one, he knew his part was right.

It's interesting that the achievement of perfect inner silence is a pivotal spiritual goal of all the great faiths and of the act of artistic creation. The opposite of silence is pandemonium - literally "pan-daemonium", or "all devils" - noise as the antithesis of divinity.

awareness said...

Balbulican.....I had never heard that before, but it makes so much sense when I think about it in the context of meditation and prayer.
What's also interesting is that there are so many individuals who avoid silence and being alone in their silence at all costs.........too darn noisy perhaps? A strong fear of having to contend with their own "silent" shadows?

Thank you for your comment.