Category: Silence - A Cottage by the Sea

Silence as a virtue

8/25/2022

I love this from Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, a collection of writing by the Fathers of the Eastern Church dating from the fourth to the fourteenth century.
   “Among other virtues, Abba Philemon had also the following: he could not bear other an idle word; if someone, forgetting himself, began to tell of something not concerned with profit to the soul, he never showed any response.”
   Of course, at social gatherings there is much conversation. We get together to share stories, to catch up on the news, to make future plans. But even when conversation is the expectation, idle words can take over. We can go on and on and on too long. We might like to hear a couple of well-chosen comments, but not an audio book about some life event.
   Recently I was on the receiving end of one of those long stories. The story was interesting, but the timing was off. We were gathered at the end of a presentation; niceties were appropriate before we all went on our way. I may have been rude, but I followed Abba Philemon’s advice and ‘never showed any response.’

Mr. Rogers offers silence

6/19/2022

I talk about silence often. Hmm, talking is hardly silent. When nothing is coming out of my mouth, my mind is hardly silent. But hearing no sound is a beautiful silence. Mr. Roger knew about that.
In the commencement address he gave at Dartmouth College in 2002 he included a minute of silence so the audience could remember and give thanks to people who had influence them in a positive way. In his acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award he received at the Emmys in 1997, he offered ten seconds of silence. It is said that that was enough time to humble everyone in the audience and bring them to tears.

Alone and silent among the icons

2/2/2019

I posted the following on ‘A Solitary Traveler,’ but I want to say a little more about the silence and solitude I experienced. Being the only person among the second floor icons was awesome. If I had come with a friend, that wouldn’t have happened; silence and solitude would have been compromised.
I understand that not everyone desires to travel alone the way I do, but if you long for silence, solitude, and simplicity, I suggest that you spend a morning by yourself at a museum. You may not have the floor to yourself, but you can wander about silently in your own little world.

Today I took a solitary trip to the Museum of Russian Icons, in Clinton, eighteen miles and thirty-five minutes from my house. I had planned to take pictures, but upon arriving I discovered I had left my phone at home. What good news that turned out to be; no distractions. I was free to look. And since I was alone, it was just me and the icons.
More good news: I had the entire second floor of the museum to myself for the entire visit.

Working towards silence~

10/29/2018

House by the road is the best we could come up with. It works well enough and now that the Red Sox are World Champions we can settle into a quieter life. I am a little concerned, however, that the mid-terms will conflict with the silence. On the other hand, I am pretty certain that the world needs silence more than noise right now.

Silence

9/22/2018

In my next to last morning in Florence I found silence at Fiesole, a hillside town overlooking the city. First, I found silence in the park on the way to the Monastery of San Francesco.

In my next to last morning in Florence I found silence at Fiesole, a hillside town overlooking the city. First, I found silence in the park on the way to the Monastery of San Francesco.

At the top of the hill I found silence in the cloisters and monk’s cells.

And finally, silence in the cemetery on the way down the hill to the town center and bus back to Florence.

Does it takes a trip far away to realize that there’s no place like home for silence?

The silence of truth telling

6/11/2018

I’m trying to make sense of what it looks like to be silent in a politically noisy world. There is, of course, physical silence which we all love from time to time, and then there is the chatter in our heads that is not silent. But today I’m thinking about the silence of truth telling. Hmm, maybe I made that up, maybe I stretching too far, but when I think of silence as something peaceful, lies seem to generate noise. Words of truth, on the other hand, offer a peaceful silence even when said out loud.

Too much noise~

8/25/2016

Do you remember the childhood story of the farmer who claimed his kids were making too much noise in the farmhouse. To solve this problem, he was told to bring all the barnyard animals into the house, which of course made it more noisy than ever. Then he was told to take each animal out of the house, one by one, and send them back to the barn. With that task completed, the farmer sat back in his rocking chair and enjoyed the peace and quiet of his many children.
I was reminded to this story when a friend told me about house sitting for a neighbor’s cat. She doesn’t mind helping out, and admits that the cat is easy. Nevertheless, when it’s time for the cat to go home, my friend experiences silence, solitude and simplicity with renewed intensity. I feel the same way after grandpet sitting or when company leaves. Then things settle back to normal and I’m ready for action again.

Summer gratitudes~

7/6/2016

A quiet day. The visiting family has taken the T to Boston, to the Kennedy Library and Faneuil Hall. It is the hottest day of the season, but there is a breeze. I’m very grateful for the family that is here and for the family not here; for the humid weather that is part of the seasons of New England; for our grandpet; for the solitude that is never lonely.

Thomas Merton's thoughts about TV

5/18/2016

Once again I have allowed watching the news to worm its way into my daily schedule. I know what’s going on; I don’t need the salacious details. The News Hour is enough; I don’t need breaking news from the other channels. Thankfully I don’t watch much regular TV, but I can get hooked on the Red Sox.
In the most obvious way, turning on the TV breaks into silence. And don’t forget solitude and simplicity!

Here’s what Thomas Merton said about TV in New Seeds of Contemplation, published in 1962.

I am certainly no judge of television, since I have never watched it. All I know is that there is a sufficiently general agreement among men whose judgment I respect, that commercial television is degraded, meretricious, and absurd. Certainly, it would seem that TV could become a kind of unnatural surrogate for contemplation: a completely inert subjection to vulgar images, a descent to a subnatural passivity rather than an ascent to a supremely active passivity in understanding and love. It would seem that television should be used with extreme care and discrimination by anyone who might hope to take interior life seriously.

Simply knitting in the silence~

5/11/2016

     After letting go of my writing project yesterday, I found myself letting go of a bunch of papers stacked on my desk. There must be a correlation between the two. I need neither project nor papers. If pressed, most of us would say we want a simpler life. But this feels like a major step, not a cliché.
    Although getting rid of papers simplifies the stuff in my house, releasing the writing project simplifies my life. On a practical level, it frees up time; the physical writing time, but more importantly, the psychological time consumed by thinking, fretting, delaying, and so on. I don’t mean to be overly dramatic, but I feel free, I have my life back.
     Hmm, having my life back is no small obsession. When things are amiss, we lose our essence. Our purpose is out of sync, we are out of touch with our mission, our meaning, with how we are to spend the precious time we have been given.
     Today, at this moment I am in sync. Knitting, visiting, sitting in the silence is feeding my simple soul. I am full. It is enough.