From the womb (or tomb) of Silence

There is no such thing as complete soundless-ness.  Even in the most remote and isolated places we’ve been, there are sounds – birds calling, waves lapping against the cliffs or tumbling onto the sand, a distant aircraft, crickets chirping, the soft hum of a refrigerator, the creaking of a floor board…

But there’s no doubt about it, these are different sounds to the ones we mostly hear during our normal, urban or suburban days.  And that difference is useful.

These sounds give us something different to attend to, a break from the usual.  And a departure from the usual can be a return to the unusual and often, the more natural.

We are reminded of the stillness within.  We can encounter it with all our senses.  We are reminded that this is how we naturally are – uncluttered, undisturbed and peaceful.

This is when we feel natural joy arise spontaneously without contrivance.  This is where and how we most long to be.  Free from the addictions of what we have learned to call ‘normal’.

It is not that ‘normal’ is bad.  It’s just that it is almost always never enough and can never be enough.  

But this space of relative silence feels enough.  It feels whole and complete.  

So complete that it sometimes scares us when it whispers to us that we don’t need anything else – neither the people nor the things that we have come to regard as essential to our survival and wellbeing.

But if we stay long enough in this silence, in this stillness, we re-encounter all of life in a profoundly different way.  

We feel our oneness with all other and we understand that there is no conflict after all between being alone and being with the rest of the world.

We feel in a very deep and blissful way how beautifully interconnected we are and how each person and each thing is a part of us.  

We watch life in all its forms dancing its eternal dance.  Each fallen leaf, each breath, every footstep, every sliver of light through unexpected cracks and every calling of the seagulls is perfectly placed and timed in this dance.

And once again, we are reborn from the womb of silence.  

May you experience Silence this Easter and celebrate the wonder and promise of your rebirth from its womb!