How Thin Is Your Silence?
What's your opinion on silence? Do you like it? Dislike it? Yearn for it? Avoid it?
If you were to ask me this question last month, I would have quickly said, "I love it and want more of it in my life." That response would make sense. I live in an urban centre, have a teenager in the house, and am often in meetings with people. I don't have a lot of silence in my life, so of course I'd want more of it.
So yes, it makes sense. Unfortunately, if I'm being honest with myself, it's not true.
Over the past month the subject of silence has cropped up frequently in my reading, podcast listening, and church attending. And as I have learned more about it, I've come to understand I don't like it and actually avoid it. I prefer background noise. White noise soothes me. When I go into the bathroom, even for sixty seconds to brush my teeth, I always put the fan on. When I go for a walk or run by myself, I always listen to music or a podcast. I get antsy with total silence.
Which is a shame, because silence is one of the most powerful and transformational spiritual practices we can experience today.
There is a well-known passage of Scripture from the life of Elijah in 1 Kings. Elijah has fled for his life and is spiritually burnt out and depressed. Eventually God leads him to Mount Horeb (also called Mount Sinai) and the following conversation takes place:
“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him.
And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
~ 1 Kings 19:11-13
Most English translations do not do justice to the Hebrew word here translated as "the sound of a gentle whisper." Other versions use the terms like "a still, small voice," "a gentle blowing," "a soft voice," and "tiny whisper." The literal translation of the Hebrew, however, is "the sound of a thin silence."
Not many scholars can tell you exactly what that means (hence the plethora of translations), but there is an interesting parallel in Celtic Christianity.
Celtic followers of Jesus recognized the importance of certain geographical locations (such as Iona), and referred to them as "thin places." These were locations where they believed the spiritual world and physical world touched. In a thin place, the veil between the two worlds was so thin a person could sense the presence and voice of God in a powerful way.
Perhaps this is what a "thin silence" offers us. It perforates the veil between the physical and spiritual realities of our life and world. The problem, of course, is exactly that. Silence thins the veil between two realities, and the noise within our soul faces God's weighty presence. When our busyness is permeated by and submerged into God, it revolts.
PAUSE and REFLECT: When was the last time you purposely engaged in silence, where you (as much as it depended on you) muted all noise, beeps, buzzes, notifications, music, white noise, etc, and simply sat in a therapeutic silence? When was the last time you felt God's tender majesty move through your glittering and noisy outer image to reach deep within your soul?
To experience this, it is important we make our silence intentional. In the absence of noise we can still busy our mind. However, when we slow our thoughts and direct them toward God in us, our silence becomes thin.
I desire to desire silence. I don't yet, but I want to grow to the point where my desire to be cocooned by a thin silence outweighs my addiction to noise. I want to experience those thin moments.
If you do too, here are a few simple ways to practice silence in your life (from Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun, along with the fruit that follows):
Setting a period of time in which you don’t speak but isolate yourself from sounds (other than perhaps the sounds of nature)
Driving or commuting without the radio or music turned on
Leaving the TV off; spending time in silence with God alone
Exercising without attending to noise; listening to God
Having personal retreats of silence
The fruit of silence is momentous. Imagine...
Being attentive to the voice of Jesus
Having freedom from negative habits of speech (deception, gossip, impulsive chatter, small talk, impression management, the need to express your opinion or critique)
Freedom from addictions to noise or sound
Receiving quiet from the chaos and the noise in your life
Having deeper intimacy with God
Growing in self-awareness as the silence invites the subconscious to move into deeper levels of knowing
Developing increased listening skills
These are all beautiful things silence offers us. What fruit do you most desire today? What is one way you can begin to welcome a thin silence into your life today? For me, I will leave my headphones at home the next time I go running.
What will you do?
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Photo by Dejan Zakic on Unsplash
Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash