A verse from Proverbs says, Where there are many words, sin is not absent.
Evolutionary Psychologists reckon that humans have been talking to each other for one or two or at most four hundred thousand years. We've lived as mammals so, so, much longer than that. Our brains still retain even reptilian structure and function. We navigate life with the 'wisdom of the ages.' And with the instincts and impulses of life at varying levels of evolution.
Our minds have ways of working that we don't understand well, capacities that we don't use well. We have untapped receptivities to both what is right in front of us and to what is Beyond.
"Be still and know," is a core part of spiritual practice. Being still and silent puts us in touch with...what? Some of us would say God. Some would say Wisdom. Some would say Original Mind. Or The Boundless. Or...? Or...? Or...?
The work and gifts of mindfulness practice and centering prayer are in part the teachings of techniques for coming into silence.
I quoted Sylvia Boorstein yesterday. Below I've used her same word order but formatted the words like a poem. It helps to slow the reading down, to put it in a different kind of space. Perhaps it allows different parts of our brains, different ways of knowing to come into play.
As we read her words, as we read any bits of wisdom that guide us toward silence, it's helpful to try to experience the words as scaffolding. Necessary scaffolding for us humans.
But not the Main Thing. Just a way to approach the main thing.
Silence
is a tool, a context
for direct, personal, intuitive
understanding
of how things are....
Being
silent
doesn’t require
being in a quiet place,
and it doesn’t mean
not saying words.
It
means, receiving
in a balanced,
noncombative way
what is happening.
With
or without words,
the hope of my heart
is that it will be able to relax
and acknowledge the truth
of my situation
with compassion.
