The message of God’s mercy to man must be preached. The word of truth must be proclaimed. No one can deny this. But there are not a few who are beginning to feel the futility of adding more words to the constant flood of language that pours meaninglessly over everybody, everywhere, from morning to night. For language to have meaning there must be intervals of silence somewhere, to divide word from word and utterance from utterance. He who retires into silence does not necessarily hate language. Perhaps it is love and respect for language which imposes silence upon him. For the mercy of God is not heard in words unless it is heard, both before and after the words are spoken, in silence.
Thomas Merton. Disputed Questions (New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1965): 195.
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June 13, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Eve
Helen, I’ve just finished reading Annie Dillard’s book on writing, “The Writing Life,” which made me think about silence from a different perspective.
I so love Thomas Merton. How we need mystics and believers and people of faith; poets, artists, and writers. There’s so much noise in the world, but they encourage us to hush.
June 13, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Mike Lovell
Helen, I’m really beginning to get into Merton here. And this one is so pertinent in showing us that often the still small voice that many do not hear is often more important than all the voices we hear from day to day.
Thanks for posting these thoughtful pieces!
June 14, 2008 at 10:58 am
helenl
Eve, I have wonderful little book you might like. It’s called “The Music of Silence: Entering the Sacred Space of Monastic Experience” by David Steindl-Rast, OSB and Sharon Lebell. I don’t know how easy it is to locate. Mine was a gift a few years ago and came packaged with a CD of Gregorian chants. The premise of the book is that ordinary people (including non-Catholics) can incorporate silence into their lives through the canonical hours of the day. I wrote a poem that included some images from it, along with others from a monastery we visited. I’ll post it in a day or so.
I, too, love the mystics. Most of the students in my Medieval World class hate Julian of Norwich. I loved her.
Mike, Thomas Merton has such a universal voice. He became a devout Catholic and monk but spent his life working with people of all faiths. Have you read his “Seven Storey Mountain”? This one is easy to find.