July 1, 2024
Even when we find ourselves grounded and feeling stable, it
doesn’t take long for our thoughts to be distracted and we are back into the chaos.
Richard Rohr says that “silence
precedes, undergirds, and grounds everything. We cannot just think of it as an
accident, or as something unnecessary. Unless we learn how to live there, go
there, abide in this different phenomenon, the rest of things—words, events,
relationships, identities—become rather superficial, without depth or context.
They lose meaning, so we end up searching for more events and situations which
must increasingly contain ever-higher stimulation, more excitement, and more
color to add vital signs to our inherently bored and boring existence.”
In this episode, we will experience some silence and try to
observe the chaos in our lives from a still, silent center. Then we will see
where it is that we want to jump back into the chaos and try and let go and
stay in our stability, choosing silence.
Listening portion is from 1 Kings 11, The Message Version.
Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention
before God. God will pass by.” A hurricane wind ripped through
the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t
to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t
in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in
the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-gift-of-silence/
