Silence – An Interesting Subject

16 Asma 163 B.E. – September 4, 2006 A.D.

Silence is an interesting subject. How many of us can sit in silence and listen? Listen to the wind blow through the trees or the bushes we have in our yards. Listen to the birds singing as the wind blows through the trees. Listen to the sound of traffic on the expressway while we sit on our patios. Listen to the person next to us talking about nothing in particular. Listen to a person we love ramble from one subject to another, while they sit next to us.

How many of us can sit in silence and let our thoughts flow from subject to subject? Just let random ideas flow into and out of our minds, while we do nothing but sit and stare at the birds in the olive trees. Just let random thoughts flow from dendrite to axon, while we watch the wind blow through stone pine trees. Just sit and think of nothing in particular or everything in general, without talking, without writing anything down, without taking any action at all.

How many of us can sit in silence and remember our past without out questioning our choices? Without wondering, what our lives would be like if we made different decisions at, what we consider critical points in our lives. Who is to say those were critical points? How many of us can sit in silence and enjoy our accomplishments, without criticizing ourselves?

Silence is an interesting subject. Instead of sitting and criticizing ourselves for what we did or did not do, maybe we should just sit in silence and enjoy the world around us for a few minutes. Just sit and watch the neighbor’s cat walk across our roof. Just sit and listen to the neighbor’s dog bark at the cat or the birds or whatever. Just sit and listen to the traffic on the expressway or the whistle of a distant freight train, without doing anything but enjoying the sights and the sounds in the world around us.

One hour a week or thirty minutes a day of silence; of listen to the world instead of criticizing ourselves, that is all we need. In that short time we sit aside to listen to the world, we might have a revelation about ourselves, about the world around us. On the other hand, we could just sit and laugh at the cat walking across the roof or the dog chasing his tail. In either case, we would not be criticizing ourselves or anyone else for a few minutes each day or week. Of course, if we are laughing at the cat or the dog, we are not sitting in silence, but we are not criticizing anyone either.

Yes, silence is an interesting subject. We must train our minds to silence; it does not come easily to us. We humans cannot be silent for long. Moreover, if we do sit in silence for a few minutes, we start criticizing ourselves or we get up and turn on the radio or T.V. so we do not have to hear our own thoughts criticize ourselves.