Being Still – Being Silent to Listen

“Have you ever noticed that ‘silent’ and ‘listen’ have the same letters?

Maybe it’s because you have to be one to really do the other.”

― JEANETTE TUPPEN, Poetry for the Awakening Soul

(and Charis Dixon)

In a world and time where listening is so rare, where many people are more interested in hearing themselves speak than they are in listening to another person, it is rather amazing that we can see the parallel between the English words ‘silent’ and ‘listen’.

There is the mystery known to us, yet it is unknown in its totality, surrounding the phenomenon of silence and listening. We never seem to entirely grasp the need for silence in order to listen, but we must do so if we are to ensure our relational interests are optimised. We cannot truly relate with others, or with God, or with ourselves unless we are able to become silent, and calmly so, as a matter of habit at the appropriate time(s).

Being silent to listen is a necessity if we are to gain anything in life. Being silent to listen is required if we are to learn. If we are to be of service to people we must listen and we must be silent to do that. It is easy to understand, yet much harder to implement.

Finding Value in Silence So We May Listen All the More

Giving credence to the aspect of space, we may enter a realm where the silence may teach us something about listening, about human nature, and about God. There is a great deal to be observed and learned and clarified, so far as life is concerned, simply through being silent enough to listen.

We can wonder about the personal value, also, in remaining silent enough to listen to the meandering sequence of life, as we convert our listening into something beyond the audible.

We find great value in silence as we entreat the eternal nuances of listening, considering that communication is merely another way to the acquisition of understanding. Plumbing the lower limits of our perception regarding the ability we may have to still our hearts and souls enough that we may listen in our silence. Such a form of listening is entirely spiritual; the embodiment of the fuller life.

It is a privilege to listen by being silent within our souls. Blessing upon blessing comes into view as we consider a broader perspective than our present knowledge of life. Remaining open we begin to comprehend the enormity of what we still do not know.

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Glorious it is, the silence. When we plead for silence, we can listen; we hear the echo of truth in people’s hearts, we hear our own, and we may hear God’s still and small voice.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.