La Science du Silence
The Science of Silence
It is better to be wordless than to use worthless words.
Pick love of ALL over hatred towards anyone.
In silence the born free heart of that living on and on piece of wood told me about written and spoken words that made it bleed at early stages of its God given life...
And how, over time, as he and his environment ran an increasing number of circles around his heart, the bleeding stopped manifesting itself across its growth rings.
Now, no longer standing tall, with its heart exposed and opened to all, it was ready to teach how small talk can make all really small. And how only silence can help all keep standing tall.
Oh! Toi, coeur de bois,
En te regardant, en Dieu je mets ma foi.
En écoutant ton silence je fais le choix
Entre croire aux mots écrits
Ou en Dieu, à Ses actions sans Ses cris.
Tu me rappelle que c’est sur le bois de La Croix
Que Jésus a ouvert Son Sacré Coeur
Pour nous sauver tous qui sommes pêcheurs.
Comme Lui, de tout aimer est mon choix.
Je le fais en silence.
Seul toi, coeur de bois
A pu m’enseigner cette science.
En tout, c’est Toi Seigneur, c’est Ta voix
Que j’entends et c’est Toi que je vois.
Guide moi le long de Ta voie.
Merci à toi bois, au cœur de La Croix.
Tu as de Jésus et de nos péchés porté le poids.
Oh! Si bon, si beau et si silencieux coeur de bois
Toi qui ne revendique jamais tes exploits
Comment ne pas me confier entièrement à toi.
At times I contemplate that wooden heart while at other times I rest my ear on it to decipher the message of its beat. Indeed, the inferior vena cava of the heart of that ever living old tree that was, continues to work overtime when my ear and my own heart are glued to its heart beat. I hear its inferior vena cava functionning non stop to reoxygenate my thoughts and to recycle renewed young blood into my life.
Thus, at all times, that ever living and loving tree heart silently teaches me how to revigorate and keep my faith in God alive... Even when He appears to be silent... The most inspiring profound silent communion between God, that old wooden heart and myself underscores how vital it is to only hear the silence of the unspoken word and to only read the unwritten invisible words.
Those unwritten, invisible, unspoken and unheard words are the very words that reveal all true feelings and expose to the light of the truth all those who hide behind words.
For it is not words, but rather silent repetitive actions that turn up the decibels and focusses the spot light on the masked personality and sentiments of wordy and worldly actors
Thus, that living on and on tree heart taught me to disregard all the meaningless written words that are composed by the tip of a pen held at finger tip or by the tip of a finger hammering away on a keyboard.
Likewise, it cautioned me not to hear most of the empty words that are spat out from the tip of a loose tongue.
The Way, the Light and the Truth are not to be found in any superficial words. Therefore such words are unable to sow, to water and to fertilize the peace and the love of God and neighbor that open the doors of heaven.
It is only by living, here and now, peacefully in the constant presence of God’s love and under His light; it is only by hearing His words of love audible not to the ear but to the heart; it is only by reading His words of peace not visible to the eye but to the spirit, that we can develop the humble and silent Godly art of peaceful love. It is only that love which is in the image of God’s love that can stop any and all hearts from bleeding.
Where and when the God spell of that unwritten and unspoken word has conquered all hatred and sorrow, the only word that is left to be spelt and to be spoken from the heart is: LOVE !
Living through that lovely feeling is what enables heaven to come and to dwell in our heart as, we likewise reside in the heart of heaven although we can appear to be still on earth.
From that moment, our one and only adress becomes HEAVEN, regardless of what God allows us to live through while still being visible on earth.
Then, with the help of numerous references on the art of living and loving in silence, that old living on and on silent tree heart graciously shared with me some of the thoughts that had been its guiding light.
They were mostly thoughts that it had particularly loved and had recorded in the grooves of its annual growth rings through the years.
To play it’s thoughts back to me, that old living on and on tree heart started spinning like an old vinyl record. Soon my own heart started spinning also as it danced to the beat of the music of that old tree heart.
With my eyes closed, living at various other periods of time in a number of different worlds, I saw that ever living heart of that old tree that was, go on spinning. With the ears of my heart wide opened I heard the wisdom filled lyrics of thoughts that were to become for ever the driving music of my own heart.
The old living on and on tree heart had recorded those precious thoughts chronologically through the years. It identified the various prophets, saints, philosophers, wise men and women in order to pay tribute to them. After all they had taught and were still teaching the whole world so very much about the supernatural power of silence.
That old ever living tree heart emphasized how through the ages those wise souls had practiced prudence in speech. It helped me and I pray and hope that many will hear what peaceful God loving hearts said about remaining silent when necessary:
Proverbs 17:28 (700 BC):
« Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent. »
Book of Job 34:29 - 6th. Century Before Christ.
« If he remains silent, who can condemn him? »
What example did Jesus give us when he stood accused and falsely charged?
Matthew 26:63: « Jesus kept silent. »
Buddha (623 - 544 B.C.)
Silence rules when the angry man finds love.
Silence prevails when the liar discovers the truth.
Confucius (551 - 479 BC):
« Silence is a true friend that never betrays. »
Laozi (6th or 4th century BC)
"The value of teaching without words and accomplishing without action is understood by few in the world.
Saint Ephrem ( 306 - 373 aka Harp of the Spirit - Sun of the Syrians - Pillar of the church):
« Speak much with God but little with men. »
Saint John Chrysostom - 344 - (Golden mouthed)
« Speak only when it is more useful to speak than to be silent.”
Saint Arsenius the Great ( 354 - 449 )
« I have often been sorry for having spoken, but never for having held my tongue. »
« God knows that I love you, but I cannot remain with God and with men at the same time. The Heavenly Powers all have one will and praise God together. But on earth, there are many human wills, and each man has his own thoughts. I cannot leave God in order to live with people »
Ali ibn Abi Talib (601-661 ) was a prominent figure in early Islamic history. Ali was the only person born inside the Kaaba in the city of Mecca.
«Surely silence can sometimes be the most eloquent reply. »
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207 - 1273):
« Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation. »
« When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the (silent) hearts of God loving women and men. »
Saint Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622):
« In order to avoid faults in speech, we should have our lips buttoned, so that while unbuttoning them we may think of what we are going to say. »
Chief Seattle (1786 - 1866):
« Earth does not belong to us; we belong to earth. Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints. »
« "There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insect's wings. But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. »
Chief Joseph of The Nez Percé (1840 - 1904) or Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, was the spearhead of Wallowa band of ‘Nez Perce’, a primitive Red Indian native tribe of America.
« I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts (addition: and kept our mouths shut). »
« Hear me, my chiefs (addition: my family, my friends and my foes)! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more. (addition: and remain silent for ever.) »
« It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises. »
Respect and learn from the silence of the dying and the dead.
« I pressed my father's hand and told him I would protect his grave with my life. My father smiled and passed away to the spirit land. »
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls pray for us as we pray for those who we leave behind!!!
Maurice Switzer (1870 - 1929.):
« It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it. »
St. Faustina (1905 - 1938):
Saint Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament OLM, was a mystic. Her apparitions of Jesus Christ inspired the Roman Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy and earned her the title of "Apostle of Divine Mercy":
« A talkative soul lacks both the essential virtues and intimacy with God. A deeper interior life, one of gentle peace and of that silence where the Lord dwells, is quite out of the question. A soul that has never tasted the sweetness of inner silence is a restless spirit which disturbs the silence of others. »
Nelson Mandela (1918 - 2013):
« Fools multiply when wise men are silent. »
« It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die. »
I loved listening to that living on and on tree heart play back such a wide variety of pearls of wise silence keepers. Moreover, because they span across time, oceans, creeds and cultures. Whenever the old tree heart would stop spinning, I could feel my own heart going on spinning and filling the air with the music of apparently new (30/11/2018) previously unreferenced sayings.
The following are a few of those that I heard my heart play to my soul:
« When we pray to Him, the Holy Spirit will best guide us as to when not to retort and rather resort to silence. »
« The deafening sound of the timely birth of silence often creates the soundest opportuniy to avoid the death of a relationship. »
« Reject the temptation to break the silence and to speak hurtful words at the wrong time as well as at all times. »
« To be responsible for thoughtless words strips bare naked the irresponsibility of a babbling tongue. »
« Only speak if and when your tongue can remain as still, as steady and as straight as an arrow. »
« People who judge vociferously reveal who they are, not who are those they judge. Keep silent. Let God be the Judge of the judging and the judged. »
« The pattern of a life is woven by both silence and noise.
Silence uses rainbow coloured smooth and supple silky threads to compose a most pleasing picture.
Noise weaves with sombre tainted coarse rugged rope that captures and exposes the abrasive nature of its character.
The contrast between the silently and noisily created pattern of all life is striking.
« In an evenly created world, heavenly silence must never surrender all of its space to worldly noises. »
« Indeed, Your silent, peaceful and loving ways are perfect Lord. Send Your Holy Spirit to help us stop, look and listen for Your direction. Give us the wisdom to know when to speak, what to say and what not to say. » Amen.
« In a noisy but an evenly created world, heavenly silence has its rewarding place. » Amen.
Thank You dear Lord for hearing our prayer and for opening Your Silent Sacred Heart to deliver its wise messages of love and peace to us all. Amen.
Thank You for all the small crosses we carry. - Thank You for the wood of the colossal cross that carried You, our Brother, and carries us all to our Holy Father’s heaven.
Finally, last but not least, thank You for that living on and on old tree heart that You, in Your infinite wisdom dear Lord, used to teach us to kindly love any kind of a wooden heart.
