April 19, 2020

Silence is not the opposite of sound; it is the invisible web from which all sound arises and returns.

What is it that makes silence so significant? Silence, the non-dual Tantric tradition says, is the matrix in which everything is held. Rather than the opposite of sound, it is the expanse out of which sound arises and into which it returns. It is the settledness of presence that creates an internal environment of calm. This silence is not an empty void of dead space but is instead filled with dynamic aliveness.

Silence is disconcerting because it is revelatory. It shows up true knowledge from posturing. It sits us in the discomfort of not knowing, in the question. It reveals the mind’s striving, grasping and clinging. It tells us how and who we trust and it illuminates answers that are beyond the hunger for information. It demands an exploration of our depths and requires us to be present. It is a pre-requisite for the acute listening needed to hear the intuitive voice. Our intuition can arise and be heard when we have cultivated a direct and deep relationship with silence.

Silence is an invitation toward intimacy. It shows up the tension, the doubt and the fears. In silence, we cannot escape our tendencies. Instead we are asked to befriend those aspects of ourselves we put aside and box up. This silence is not the weapon used to create separation and a feeling of aloneness. That silence is put on rather than revealed or brought forth from our depths. As such, that defensive silence moves us away from intimacy and truth.

When abiding in true silence, the significance of the mind’s machinations is lessened and the volume of our ongoing thought trains is muted by the sound of the silence — when we have successfully tuned our ears to it. Silence promotes a clarity that allows for clean, direct responsiveness without the heat of reaction. Action then becomes cleaner, more efficient and without unnecessary chatter.

Silence is nourishing, allowing us to tap into and investigate what is without needing to change or delete anything. We are often afraid of silence because we feel we do not exist without the mental chatter. We link the silence in daily life to the imagined silence of death. And yet, our truest security is resting into silence. True silence is an inquiry into the nature of reality and the truth of being and that is the greatest gift of all.

Ways to invite silence into your life:

follow a sound into silence (thunderclap, hand clap, singing bowl strike)

create times of intentional silence (this doesn’t have to be a formal time for anything but rather just a time to move away from the external noises of devices, conversations and to relax into being)

actively tune into the silence held within sound (ie. music) in the way that we naturally hear the silence in the woods despite the cacophony of sounds there

pause, training yourself to feel into the silence in between stimulus and response

say less when in conversation with others and cultivate the ability to be comfortable in the presence of the other person without speaking