Discover the levels of silence and learn how you can persevere through obstacles by practicing letting go.

English

These levels of silence are realities that we encounter. The important thing is to keep the work going through all levels. Even if we find ourselves like in a traffic jam or we are blocked, we just keep going. 

Audio: Jemima
Photo: Ýlona María Rybka (Unsplash)

Levels Of Silence

Hello, my name is Yemima. Welcome to another reflection from the WCCM Young Channel. Here we share teachings from John Mayne, Lawrence Freeman, and the Christian Contemplative Tradition. Today I will be reading a reflection from The Experience of Being, written by Lawrence Freeman. Part Two. Levels of Silence. These levels of silence are realities that we encounter. The important thing is to keep the work going through all levels. Even if we find ourselves like in a traffic jam or we are blocked, we just keep going. This work of silence that we are doing takes us to two different levels. We come to these different levels of silence in God's time, not our own. Contemplation is always gift, not technique. There is the silence of the tongue, there's the silence of the whole body, the silence of the mind, the silence of the spirit. Body, mind, spirit. Now these are levels. Although we may bounce up and down the scale quite a lot, we do need to tick off certain procedures, certain work we do. For example, if we can't control our tongue, forget about controlling your mind. This is what St. James says in the Letter of St. James. All of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a brittle. Look at ships, although they are so large it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. James 3 verses 2 to 5. Then he goes on, he describes all the harm the tongue can do. What he is saying is, if you can't control your tongue, then you haven't really begun to control your mind either. There's the tongue, which is part of the body, but there's also the silence of the body, which is why we sit still in meditation, why we are careful with those noises we make during the time of meditation. If you can't control your mind, you're not going to be able to move into that level of spirit, the silence of the spirit. Citation from Writing the Icon of the Heart by Maggie Ross. The silence of the spirit is when the mind ceases even from stirrings caused by spiritual beings, subtle thoughts, and when all its movements are stirred solely by being. Comment. So just being, not thinking, but being. End comment. In this state it is truly silent, aware that the silence which is now upon it is itself silent. These levels of silence are realities that we encounter and with practice we come to recognize. The important thing is to keep the work going through all levels. Even if we find ourselves like in a traffic jam or we are blocked, we just keep going. If you are in a traffic jam on a highway, it's very frustrating, but you can't just get out of the car and leave the car there. You have to keep moving, maybe inch by inch, till it opens up. You didn't know what it was that was causing the blockage, the jam. So it's like in our own psyche. We have accidents, we have mistakes, we have problems, which we have to work through. Our journey of meditation through these different levels of silence, which we progress through by relistening to the mantra, in that work we are inevitably going to come across obstacles and they will slow us down, they will upset us, they will seem a waste of time, you will be irritated by them or frightened by them. They are very big, but they can be moved away and the work of silence itself is actually moving, actually dissolving them. There are times when the work of silence doesn't seem to be very productive or fruitful or enjoyable or easy. That's why we need a tradition, we need a wisdom bigger than ourselves, bigger than our own experience, and we need unity, we need friends, fellow pilgrims to keep us going. We need to be able to trust and understand our own experience, but we need to be able also to transcend it, to realize that the work that we are doing is a deeply personal, intimate work that takes us into the deepest relationships of our lives, which is our relationship with God and with ourselves. But in doing that, we discover that this work of silence touches the whole web of relationships that make up our life. Nothing in our life is left uninfluenced, untouched by that. But there are times when we may get discouraged and times when we feel very inspired and we see the way, we see why we are doing it, we see the benefits and we see the fruits. Other times, we don't. There's a story in the Desert Fathers about a disciple who is asked by his teacher, it's a test of obedience, to put a stick in the ground, a piece of dead wood in the ground, and to water it every day. So he does that. He says, that's ridiculous, what's the point of watering a dead stick? But he does this in obedience and eventually it sprouts, comes alive and grows. Green shoots appear. So faith is about relationship and faith is also about perseverance and the transcendence of the ego that wants to give up. But as the rabbi said, God does not expect us to succeed, but we are not allowed to give up. So you are not allowed to give up. You may have to change, you may have to adapt, but don't give up. Giving up is very different from letting go. When you want to give up, as we all do at times, then you either give up, in which case you will have to start again eventually, or you can save time and effort by simply letting go more. You just find a deeper way of letting go and then you don't want to give up anymore, because you've made a breakthrough. So this is something I'm sure we've all experienced in different ways, in subtle ways, where the work of silence has been really consciously central to our life. And we've seen this work of silence does touch and incorporate the whole person that we are, the tongue, the body, the mind and the heart, the spirit. This work of silence is healing and it's unifying. It's not a work that is easy, but there is no better work to do. And it's a delightful work and it's a work that we come to love the more deeply we understand it. And it's a work that allows us to share something of supreme value with other people in the world. Thank you for joining me at the WCCM Young Channel. Until next time, but for now, peace be with you.