Silence: Listen with Your Heart

 

Silence: Listen with Your Heart

(June 12, 2023)

 The legendary singing/musician duo, Simon and Garfunkel, recorded and released the now classic song “The Sound of Silence” in 1964. It was written by Paul Simon himself. It was the Billboard Hot 100 number 1 song for some time and was a hit in multiple countries around the globe. The song was so deep in messages that critics and fans alike admired it for its seeming satirical, critical allusions to the signs of the time. The music itself has power and depth. It is my number one favorite song. 

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

Today we live in a world of light and sound. There are even places that “never sleep” so to speak. With the young professionals and generally the youth of today, life begins at 10 in the evening when partying commences with food and drinks galore in restaurants and pubs, in bars and discos.

In this world of entertainment, darkness to rest the weary soul and silence as a channel for solitude have become aliens and strangers. The vision of a meaningful human existence is set aside to reside in the recesses of our sleeping minds but hoping to be discovered and come into fruition when silence returns and the light dims.

In restless dreams, I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

Our physical self enjoys the blazing sound of music unknown and dances wildly amidst the blinding lights with glaring colors. The restlessness of the self, oblivious of the priorities and important things in life, could not stop itself but just dances the night away as an escape from the frivolities of life.

But then deep down inside the person is his/her search for the true meaning of life achievable only when the person’s “night” is touched by silence.

And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

When the person realizes that there is really no meaning in a way of life that is lived simply for fun and entertainment, the person finds no meaning in the words of others who also live aimlessly as it seems like he/she does. People do not listen anymore to one another. Words with meaning are no longer uttered and heard. Life has no direction.

Silence is a person’s road towards solitude to find meaning and purpose in life.

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

Time will come when a person realizes how important silence is in one’s life. In meaningful silence is where a person hears the whispers of life and how it needs to be lived. For this to be attained, one must make a conscious and deliberate act to find time and space where one can commune with silence.

In solitude is where the mouth is shut, the mind is stopped thinking, but the heart continues to listen.

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
In tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

The person hoping to find meaning in life through an experience of true and deep silence of self shall battle various attacks from the outside world to distract him/her from journeying into finding his/her worth in life. The person needs to remain steadfast as the evils of the world shall advance their might to weaken his resolve towards the attainment of a meaningful and truly happy life.

In silence do we find our way towards self-realization. Along the way comes self-awareness, acceptance, resolve. This is when the person achieves self-actualization where God is glorified.

Let us all spend some time in silence and solitude.

Let us respect one another’s silence.

 

Some side notes:

Scholar Bilal Ansari, a teacher at the Darul Qasim Islamic learning center in suburban Chicago, says, “One of my teachers once told me that as a people we need to learn the art of silence like we learn the art of communication. There is, in fact, a powerful form of communication in one’s silence that only the one who engages in long periods of silence is able to appreciate.” What Islam Teaches About Making Daily Space for Silence | by Tasmiha Khan | Forge (medium.com)

In his book entitled The Power of Silence , Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, affirms that silence is an essential condition for prayer, and prayer is indispensable for Christian life. In other words, there can be no Christian life without prayer and there can be no prayer without silence. “Pray that you may not fall into temptation” (Mt 26:41), the Lord tells us, and St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church, states in his book A Short Treatise on Prayer, that “If you pray, you will be certainly saved; if you do not pray, you will be certainly damned.” It’s as simple as that. The importance of silence in the Christian life - Home of the Mother

“Jewish sages valued silence as vital to living a meaningful life.Through the practice of silence and meditation, a person could best serve God and avoid conflict with one’s fellow human beings (Prov. 20:23, ‘He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles’.” Silence a key spiritual practice on the spiritual journey | Calgary Herald