Got me to wondering...
From 1974 until 2015 I was a United Methodist minister…and in leading traditional worship…silence is usually deadly…
And for ten years back in the 70s and 80s I co-hosted a weekly half-hour television show on WTTV…and on television programs…silence is deadly…
And, for five years in the 1980s I hosted a weekly half-hour radio program in Indianapolis…and in radio…silence is deadly…
Ram Dass, the author and spiritual teacher says this: The quieter you become, the more you hear.
And my wondering led me to conclude that what we are dealing with here is a completely Other Language than we…most of us, anyway…are used to using…or understanding:
The Language of Silence.
The Eagles sang about it…a verse of their song “Learn to Be Still” goes like this…
We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don't know how to be alone
So we wander 'round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, the Irish poet, playwright, and translator, Seamus Heaney,
said this:
“The true and durable path into and through experience involves being true to the actual givens of your lives. True to your own solitude, true to your own secret knowledge. Because oddly enough, it is that intimate, deeply personal knowledge that links us most vitally and keeps us most reliably connected to one another.”
I kept wondering...and decided that:
When I give my Nobel Prize acceptance speech…it could happen… I think I will say this:
I want you…all of you…each of you
to learn to be still and learn the Language of Silence
listen to it speak until you understand then
what you do not know now.
You will learn what Silence has to say...only to you.
You will learn about Hopes and Dreams.
You will learn what is needed to
keep you Heart calm and
your Head held high
while The Creator’s Spirit whispers secrets to your Soul.
The 13th century Sufi mystic, known as Rumi…
wrote this:
Now be silent.
Let the One who creates words speak.
(The One who) made the door.
(The One who) made the lock.
(The One who) also made the key.
And in the Language of Silence…if you listen with your heart… you just may hear
words as graceful as these:
May life be gentle with you today ...
May you know forgiveness today ...
May you see all that is pleasant today ...
May life be grace to your soul today...
Let us be Still…
Let us be Still…
And see what the Language of Silence will offer us today.
Thank You for this Nobel Prize… And now I will be silent.
