Silence.

One of the most underestimated virtues is silence. People go about in their everyday lives not even noticing the beauty of one's \"inner silence.\" Most people do not even notice the amount of noise that is carried around in their own bodies. Even in this high tech, developing, industrial age we live in, the real noise is inside of us. But even these noises can dissappear if one realy wants to. Religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity...have many techniques for meditation, and their reasons for wanting to find \"pure silence\" are generally the same.

Well said. All religions teach a form of inner peace, or inner silence. A contentment in your beliefs that exceedes the physical world around you. This is truly the ultimate goal of any belief structire.

Meaningful silence has become a rare thing indeed. There is more noise than ever before. Not only is it louder, but it is more invasive.

We are saturated in sound. Showers play music. Elevators babel. Mobile phones interrupt. The quiet chat in a bar is drowned out by the ball game on the television overhead. I pods have become everybody`s companion. Twenty-four-hour commercial add pound our senses. There is little if no room for silence when our ears are being plugged with a delude of information.

Silence has become a threat or an unknown factor outside the capsule of noise that encloses our lives. Sometimes it becomes too quiet! We are uneasy at the thought of our imagination and our inner life, the silence of our own minds. People are migrating \"en mass\" from their private to a public world. Silence has become a luxury commodity, the well earned holiday. The only time when it is quiet enough to hear one`s own heart beat is when that heart has beat its last.

Silence is more than just a break or holiday; it is a place free from a hyperbole of words, sounds and information; it is a desert where we can hear ourselves think; it is a chamber in which our voice resonates.

SHHHHHH

Some people have the mistaken idea that Trappists make a vow of silence. They never have made such a vow. They have rules of silence, which were stricter in the past than are now, but there still remain times and places when they are expected to keep silence. The purpose of silence is to give one space in which to pray, meditate and read and allow others to do the same. Silence is a form of charity to others, but it is not absolute. Charity may sometimes oblige persons, including monks, to speak at the right time and in the right way.

...the trappists show us that there is always a time to speak...

\"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.\"

Martin Niemoller

...silence is for every Jedi a voice from the heart...

For me silence has always been a source of healing, not only only spiritually, but also physically and mentally. Whereas some like to go to sauna to relax and give themselves a treat with all kinds of wellness treatments, I love to go on retreats and immerse myself in silence. No TV, radio, newspapers... . The silence refreshes me like a cool shower on a hot summers day. I can piece myself back together again like a jig-saw puzzle. Like an energy drink, silence clears away any exhaustion accumulated during the nonstop noise of modern urban living and restores my energy.

But what's good for me is not necessarily good medicine for someone else. Silence may not be the best spiritual practice for individuals who suffer from melancholy or depression. These should learn to open up and be able to express themselves. As the Doctrine suggests to us, It is also important not to be silent in the face of injustice. In \"Ethics for the New Millennium,\" the Dalai Lama says that if we keep silent out of a sense of self-centeredness, then it's a problem. We have a universal duty to break out of such silence and help others. Above all though we must not only forget that it is in the womb of silence that we can develop ideas for what the best course of action there is to take, but also to make sure that such action is rooted in compassion and wisdom. If we are going to speak out, our task is first to be in tune with what the world needs and not what our ego desires, or we risk causing more harm even if unintentionally.

Another Take on Silence...

What did you not say yesterday? Were there things you wish you had said but held back? Did you corral certain words, certain sentences, and hold them for another opportunity? Were some thoughts pushed below the surface, allowed to be changed with time, perhaps to be forgotten forever? How many “I love you’s” went unsaid that would have healed an aching heart? As with sleep, you cannot store them and build a reserve to tap into at a later date. Their power, their balming effect, quickly dissipates with disuse. They work only in the moment that they were intended. Left idle, their potential is gone, the object of their delivery untouched by kindness, by tenderness.

“I love you.” It is so simple to say. Three words. There are many other opportunities to say them, but none more important and possessing more potential than now. Words can have the opposite effect if left unsaid, almost as if they were spoken as opposites. Silence can equal the opposite. “I love you” unsaid can become “I don’t love you” out loud. Your most tender and endearing thoughts, if not allowed to fly free from the prison of your mind, may silently tell someone that you don’t care. How many times has your silence told your partner or child that you didn’t love them? How often has an unsaid word created the opposite effect? Think of all the lives that would have been changed had armies of sentences been allowed to roam free. Those who go through life cloaked in spoken endearments, wrapped and comforted in the voiced love of others, are truly blessed. The power of the spoken word is mighty. The power of silence can be mightier still.

Countless millions of words have been written and spoken since the beginning of human history. A total of all the words in all the libraries of the world, past and present, and every word of every conversation, idle chatter, lecture, broadcast, and speech in history would be dwarfed by the vast legions of words left unsaid, those rendered impotent by silence. Not that it is a good thing to instantly speak every thought that comes to mind: chaos would ensue. We have to be selective of our words and deliver them into the pattern of conversation where appropriate; however, it is our mental editing that isolates certain words and thoughts as unspeakable, and sentences them to die (pun intended).

Words can change the world. They can incite, torture, kill, comfort, heal, encourage, humiliate, anger, inspire, sadden, give joy, make one laugh, and they can forever change one’s life. There are many kinds of words: “In other words,” four-letter-words, words that are read, words to make you blue; there is the spoken word, the written word, the forgotten word; we put words in someone’s mouth, and we don’t have the words to express.... Words, words, everywhere, and not a thought to speak. And the unsaid words—oh, how they could have changed the course of history! Would they have altered the destructive lives of John Wilkes Booth, Adolph Hitler, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jeffrey Daumer, or the Son of Sam? Would the unspoken “I love you’s” have given them a new lease on life had those three words been bestowed upon them?

The power of words and their silent cousins: “What did you say?” “Nothing.” Think of the consequences had that “nothing” actually been, “I was wrong. I’m sorry. I apologize and want to make it up to you.” Instead, a relationship was probably hurt forever, or even eventually terminated. “Ouch, that hurts,” if left unsaid, can become one of many familiar wedges in a marriage, or any relationship. Not expressed, it can fester inside, becoming worse and much larger over time than it originally was. It also will accumulate other unsaid “ouches,” and grow to become a very powerful “I hate your guts.” It can eat at one’s insides if not voiced. Actually, its release will help the relationship; its incarceration will destroy.

Don’t withhold. Let the hostages go. Release the words while they still hold their meaning. Release them before they change in silence. The loneliest place in the world, more desolate and forbidding than the blackest cell of any prison, is a silent marriage/partnership. All the city lights from Manhattan to Bangkok could probably be powered by the turbulent energy of the silent, but unrelenting, dialogues churning in the minds of an unhappy couple. And it would be possible, as well, to freeze solid the oceans of the world by the dynamics between the two.

Allow your thoughts to be heard. You are the most powerful person on earth. You alone possess the ability to change your world, make friends, and influence people. You have the key. Use your words for good. They can help you. Don’t withhold them, for in their muted state they can turn on you. Life is a fine balance of releasing the right words in the right order at the right time, and deciding which words are truly better left unsaid.

Those who know do not speak;

Those who speak do not know.

Lao Tzu

Silence can be a terrible mirror, a bottomless pit. It reflects sometimes terrible truths and can lead us into places where there is no way out. Silence is like a two edged sword, it can bring peace or it can bring war. It can not be taken on the light shoulder or treated as a romantic fancy. I learned this when I did a retreat in Buffalo (USA), and my one years retreat as a novice. Believe me, the pictures I got were better than any Cinema could produce.

Can you imagine everything you did, said and thought plus all the horror films you saw plus every piece of suffering bundeled into one moment coming at you like a high speed train? I am not ashamed, but I ran. I ran for my life. Thats all I can remember.

Like myself once, many are convinced that no type of film (no matter how horrifying) could not be of any harm. I know now I was mistaken. Silence showed me what has happened to my \"soul\" over the years. Take care of yourselves.

IN THE Vedanta breath is called Prana, life. Breath is the chain which links body, heart, and soul together. It is so important that when it is gone from the body, this body which is so much loved and cared for that the slightest cold or cough is treated by doctors with medicines, is then of no more use. It cannot be kept alive.

Speaking is a breach in the breath. That is to say, when one speaks one has to take many more breaths than one would take otherwise. The breath is like the hoop a child plays with: according to the force of the blow of the stick, so many times the hoop turns; and when the force is spent the hoop falls down. It is also like the ticking of a watch. The watch goes for the time for which it is wound; it may be for twenty-four hours, or for one week, but longer than that period it cannot go, however far it is wound. Or compare it with a child's top; it turns so many times according to the strength with which it is spun, and when the force is spent the top falls over.

In accordance with the first breath, so long will our life last: so many breaths. By speaking we take away much of our life; a day's silence means a week longer of life and more, and a day's speech means a week less of life. Silence is the remedy for much, although of course a person living in the world cannot practice it continually. But he should keep a watch on his words; he should remember that for every word he speaks he will be awarded heaven or hell.

In India from ancient times there have been mystics who are called Muni. They never speak, although they do all kinds of other things. These mystics have often lived very much longer than we live at the present time: three hundred, five hundred years and more.

By not speaking the breath is not interrupted; it remains regular and even. The mystics have always given great importance to the breath, and have made its study the principal object in their training. Those who have mastered the breath have mastery over their lives; those who have not mastered it are liable to all kinds of diseases. There are some who have mastered it unconsciously, such as boxers and wrestlers, and also some people who have led a righteous life.

In the present age we have become so fond of speech than when a person is alone in the house he likes to go out, if only to find somebody to talk to. Often when people are alone they speak to the objects round them. Many people speak to themselves when they have no one else to talk to. If it were explained to them, perhaps they would understand how much energy they lose with each word spoken. Silence is relaxation of mind and body; it is restful and healing. The power of silence is very great, not only for the gaining and preservation of energy and vitality, but also morally there are many benefits to be obtained by silence.

Most of the follies we commit are follies of speech. In one week, for every single folly of action we commit a thousand follies of speech. Often we offend or hurt someone only by talking too much; if we had refrained from speech we would not have hurt him.

Then there is exaggeration. All idealists, those who like to admire something, have the tendency to exaggerate. If a person has gone out and read on a poster that a Zeppelin is coming he wants to frighten his friends, and at once he says that twenty Zeppelins are coming. And when his friends are alarmed he feels a certain satisfaction. When idealists take a fancy to a person they tell him that he is the sun and the moon in the heavens. There is no need to say all this.

By speaking a person also develops a tendency to contradiction. Whatever is said, he wants to take the opposite standpoint. He becomes like a boxer or a wrestler: when there is no one to box or to wrestle with he is disappointed, so intense is his inclination for speech.

Once I was at a reception at a friend's house, and there was someone there who disputed with every guest, so that they were all tired out. I tried to avoid him but someone introduced us, and when he heard that I was a teacher of philosophy, he thought, 'This is the person I want'. And the first thing he said was, 'I do not believe in God. ' I said, 'Do you not? But do you believe in this manifestation and in the beauty of this world of variety, and that there is a power behind it which produces all this?' He said, 'I believe in all that, but why should I worship a personality, why should I call him God? I believe in it but I don't call it God.' I said to him, 'You believe that every effect has a cause, and that for all these causes, there must be an original cause. You call it cause, I call it God; it is the same. There is some officer whom you salute, some superior before whom you bow, for instance your father or mother, some fair one whom you love and adore, for whom you have a feeling of respect, some power before which you feel helpless. How great then must that Person be who has produced and controls all this and how much more worthy of worship!' He answered, 'But I do not call that a divinity, I call it a universal power, an affinity working mechanically, harmonizing all.' When I tried to keep him to one point, he ran to another; and when I followed him there, he ran to another, until at last I ceased, thinking of the words of Shankaracharya, 'All impossible things can be made possible save the bringing of the fool's mind to the point of truth.'

The tendency to contradiction can grow so much, that when some people hear even their own ideas spoken about before them, they will take up the contrary point of view in order to prepare a position for discussion. There is a Persian saying, 'O Silence, thou art an inestimable bliss, thou coverest the follies of the foolish and givest inspiration to the wise!'

How many foolish things we say only through the habit of speech! How many useless words we speak! If we are introduced to someone we must speak; if not we are thought impolite. Then come such conversations as, 'It is such a fine day; it is cold', or whatever the weather is, and so on; such speech without reason in time turns into a disease, so that a person cannot get on without emptying the head of others by speaking about useless things. He can no longer live one moment without it owing to his self-interest; he becomes so fond of speech that sometimes he will tell the whole story of his life to a stranger, preventing him from speaking, although that man may be very bored and would like to say, 'What do I care about all that?' And people also give out secrets that afterwards they regret having told.

Under the same spell a person shows impatience in his words, a pride, a prejudice, for which he is sorry afterwards. It is the lack of control over speech which causes all this. The word is sometimes more prized than the whole world's treasure, and again it is the word which puts a person to the sword.

There are different ways of receiving inspiration, but the best is silence. All the mystics have kept silence. During my travels through India all the great people that I met kept silences at least for some hours, and some for twenty hours a day.

In Hyderabad there was a mystic called Shah Khamosh. He was called so because of his silence. In his youth he was a very clever and energetic young man, and one day he went to his murshid and as usual he had some question to ask as is natural in a pupil. The murshid was sitting in ecstasy, and as he did not wish to speak he said to him, 'Be quiet.' The boy was much struck. He had never before heard such words from his murshid, who was always so kind and patient and willing to answer his questions. But it was a lesson which was enough for his whole life, for he was an intelligent person. He went home and did not speak to his family, not even to his parents. Then his murshid, seeing him like that, did not speak to him any more. For many years Shah Khamosh never spoke, and his psychic power became so great that it was enough to look at him to be inspired. Wherever he looked he inspired. Wherever he cast his glance he healed. This happened not long since, perhaps twenty-five years ago.

There is an intoxication in activity, and nowadays activity has increased so much that from morning till evening there is never any repose, owing to our daily occupations which keeps us continually on the move. And at night we are so tired that we want only to sleep, and next morning the activity begins anew. By this kind of life much is destroyed; man is so eager for his enjoyments that he does not think of the life that is there to be enjoyed. Every person should have at least an hour a day in which to be quiet, to be still.

After the silence of speech comes the silence of thought. Sometimes a person is sitting still without speaking, but all the time his thoughts are jumping up and down. The mind may not want the thoughts, but they come all the same. The mind is let out to them like a ballroom, and they dance around in it. One thought should be made so interesting, so important, that all other thoughts are driven out by it.

When the thoughts have been silenced, then comes the silence of feeling. We may not speak against some person, there may be no thought against him in our mind, but if there is a slight feeling against him in our heart, he will feel it. He will feel there is bitterness for him in that heart. Such is also the case with love and affection.

The abstract means that existence beyond this world where all forms of existence commingle, where they all meet, and this abstract has its sound. When that sound too is silenced and a person goes beyond it, then he reaches the highest state, Najat, the Eternal; but surely a great effort is needed to attain to this state.