Jesus said we must lose our lives to find it. One essential way we do this is by learning the art of interior silence. This choice to turn away from internal and external noise in order to be with Jesus is work…a difficult work.
Externally, we face the unrelenting pressure of our culture– the noise, the clutter, the grasping, the confusion, the distractions, the excessive amount of information – all of which make it difficult to hear ourselves think. Internally, our stillness and silence muscles are weak. As beginners, we have problems focusing attention and facing the normal distractions of body and mind. Just like we cannot simply read a how-to book on running a marathon and run, so we must build up muscle and stamina slowly over time.
Maggie Ross, in her Silence: A User’s Guide – Volume 1: Process, argues that the tradition of silence was handed down unbroken from the time of Jesus to the high Middle Ages when it was suppressed by the institutional church. She also offers a picture of the unimaginable richness that awaits us when we live from the wellspring of silence:
- We shift away from the artificiality of the surrounding culture toward the beauty of beholding Him.
- We learn discretion, the ability to wait and see what unfolds, more trusting of the love of God.
- We realize how foolish our ideas are of how the world works or should work, letting go more easily of judgments, anger and greed.
- We become increasingly free from our investment in self-image preservation.
- We become more compassionate to others.
- We develop a taste for being still, especially in the presence of beauty.
- We influence others for good out of the changes God is doing in and through us.
- We get in touch with reality as we suddenly rediscover a pair of glasses that had been on the table in front of us all the time but had been continually overlooked.
One of the greatest gifts of The EHS Course is the introduction of silence and stillness to our people. But that, of course, begins with us choosing daily to lose our lives for Him.
– Pete
@petescazzero
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