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INTENTION : |
That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters.
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The Value of Silence
In the book The World of Silence, Picard observes that "in silence we are connected with past and future generations." We may possibly be conversant with an English proverb which says that "silence is golden." True to this and other analogous proverbs from other parts of the world, silence is an essential human virtue. According to the native wisdom in many African societies, one of the strong inclinations that a person must control is the urge to talk to give way to profitable silence.
Silence as envisaged in the indigenous African worldview is neither a passive entity or vacuum, nor an absence of speech or words but a positive and active voice that nourishes thinking, and reflection and thus improves the quality of subsequent speech. It is in silence that constructive reflection on self and on the values and meanings of life is possible. In the same view, noise is regarded as the opposite of silence. Noise lets us ignore our most difficult struggle and our most precious possession: our time and profound selves. Very often, it is painful to face one's true inner core and to be absolutely honest with oneself. Thus we seek refuge in noise out of fear of discovering the depths of our emptiness. We are, so to speak, afraid of silence, so fearful of the opportunity to be with ourselves and penetrate our inner world.
In aboriginal African wisdom, there are several levels of meaning in the fundamental virtue of silence. First, the disposition to keep silent implies the ability to control one's tongue and tendency to speak. A mature person must be able to hold back his or her tongue at all times and in particular in occasions of anger and other emotional crisis. It is time to keep silent, for example, when your colleague is speaking angrily and uncontrollably. It is also time to be mute when you are angry and emotionally unstable. In a nutshell, indigenous African wisdom heartens everyone to develop the ability to just keep quiet at appropriate times in life. There is a time to speak and a time not to speak.
Second, silence at another level is a facilitating condition for attentive listening. A good listener is a treasure. The listening position is seriously lacking in our world today. There is an incredible amount of lack of patience in listening, a virtue that is indispensable for us Christians since we owe God's people a listening ear. The spoken word needs a listening ear just as the written word needs a reading eye. Listening in silence is crucial in human relations. Silence aids thinking and reflection. The elders actually know from experience that silence aids thinking.
A good speaker is also that person who provides quiet moments when speaking. Put differently, a good speaker punctuates his or her speech with silence. These intervals of silence are pregnant with opportunity to think and reflect.
Moreover, silence is an indispensable ingredient for any religious practice. In the quest for the Ultimate Thou, genuine spiritual heights can only be attained through introspection, which only comes by dint of the medium of silence. It is only in the silence of one's heart that one can confront oneself and reflect on important questions such as, for example, "Who am I?"
Maharal, a 16th century mystical commentator, explains speech derives from the physical facet of man. For this reason, when we speak, our physical aspect is controlling us. Silence however allows our spiritual dimension to regain control. Since the spiritual mode of man is silence, quietness allows the spiritual to lead the physical, while speaking gives the physical the leading role. Though Maharal's arguments are not sound enough, the point he makes is that our spiritual life is more aided by silence than by noise. Thus, there is nothing better for the body than silence.
The aspirant to spiritual progress needs to see the value of silence as soul-exercise. The vehicle for wisdom is silence, as King Solomon tells us, "Closing one's lips makes a person wise" (Proverb 10:19). Socrates reminds us that, a life that is not reflected upon is not worth living. Setting specific times to be alone with yourself and your thoughts will help you to probe your inner world. It is at these times that we pierce our deeper selves and put things into their right perspectives. One may say that a rich prayer is not the one in which one speaks more to God but rather the one in which one listens more to God.
Ujah Gabriel Ejembi, SJ
Jesuit Scholastic studying in Zimbabwe
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