This post quote: “Silence seems to speak to me; I’ve learned to not talk back.”
Quote #2: “Listen to a person’s words and listen to the silence behind their words.”
Does myth connect with silence? As previously posted on July 8 and August 8, 2014, “myth” comes from the later Latin mythus based upon the earlier Greek muthos. The etymological root of muthos is mu, the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet.
Mu roots may be found, among other words, in: muse, bemuse, amuse, amusement, museum, museology, museologist, music, musician, and the goddesses of creativity, the nine Muses.
Myth connotes “muse.” Mu also connects with “mu-o” which means to “close the eyes, close the mouth;” hence silence. One is reminded of “mute” and the Sanskrit muni “silent sage.” The closing of eyes and mouth is one facet of meditation or contemplation.
Myth connotes “muse” and “silence;” the silence of contemplative work. How paradoxical, that the words and stories of myth can be rooted in silence!
A well-known author once asked why he had not heard anything from me for quite a while. I replied, “Well, I’ve had nothing to say.” He responded by assuring me that my viewpoints were of value and to not feel badly about this…
…as if I had ever felt badly by it. Funny, but I had never for one instant felt poorly about it. Why should I? When dwelling in silence I feel alone with some inexplicable, mysterious presence that uplifts.
Silence can be contemplation and a deepening of one’s life experience. Words can distract from contemplation. Silence seems to speak to me; I’ve learned to not talk back.
I have a question: Why does silence, in popular culture, imply a lack of personal reality or social being? And, further, have we so reduced the importance of our subjective selves in favor of the outer world and its chimeras that we worship the latest social (media) trend, fashion, fad, or way to make money? Is inner presence and self-worth dependent upon one’s influence or impact upon the outer world and its little dramas we deem so vitally important?
Plato once said “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”
I’ve been happy to swim through oceans of spiritual silence.
I have not, in a sense, spoken nor written for a very long time; years, decades, lifetimes. My spiritual role was to listen, record, contemplate, and “be.”
We dwell, spiritually, where we place our attention. If your goal is to improve the world, you will inherit the world. If your goal is to do harm; you will inherit that which is harmed. Our attention follows our ideals. As captain of our own consciousness, if our ideals are of this world, our journey will return us to the world.
If we have nothing to say, choose the Grace of Silence as opposed to the chatter of some social function or media outlet (same applies to rational argumentation which some indulge to the point of irrationality). If you feel or think you have something to say; practice silence. Tune out the noise and cacophony; tune in. Silence can fill you with presence. Quiet the mind and emotions and let silence invest your consciousness with the fruits of Spirit. Silence can heal.
“Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.” Rumi
Yet, all sounds are ultimately of the Voice of Presence. All voices hearken back upon this Divine Ground. All. Life is a mirror. Presence is a mirror. What do you see when you look into this mirror? What is in your reflection?
Dwell in the Eye of God so that all you see will be holy.
When we speak, write or act, we create. At some point, we must ask “What am I creating? From what ideal image am I communicating?” People assume their own rationality and then promptly sally forth and create images far less than divine. Some do not even comprehend the difference between emotional reaction and rational deduction; much less spiritual contemplation; gnosis.
Yet, all are spiritual beings; all are of Soul. All. But, a Soul projecting forth its creativity through reactive emotional outbursts, mental obfuscations and rationalizations (rising to the level of dishonesty), is a being more interested in manipulating outer reality and deception rather than practicing inner acceptance. These creators suffer (or will suffer) from their creations via the Law of Unintended Consequences (“What goes around, comes around”). Karma.
“Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know.” Tao Te Ching, chapter 56.
The wisdom of silence recognizes that each viewpoint connotes another, even opposite, point of view infused with elements of truth. Views and counterviews exist because of an overarching canopy of silence from which they all derive. Each is a particular insight into total consciousness.
“Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.” Jorge Luis Borge
Pythagoras, the philosopher, reputedly assigned his students five years of silence before their being allowed to speak in his school. Consider: after five years of silence, a person’s words would be profound; words worth listening to.
Listen to a person’s words and listen to the silence behind their words. What does their silence tell you? What is their ideal; their clarity?
If we stop projecting our ideals onto the freedom of others and begin practicing self-examination, our creations will stop haunting us and we begin cultivating an inner garden of truth. Recognizing one’s flaws and strengths is the beginning of self-acceptance. Acceptance is humility and is of the Beautiful; a high ideal to practice. Realize the Soul within.
Listen to the hush of falling snow, the hiss of sand blowing across a dune, the sighing of wind through pine boughs. They are stepping-stones to silence. Listen to the silence behind nature as well as behind a person’s words. Listen to your silence when you pray, meditate, or contemplate. Realize the still, quiet self within.
Mythosophy is the Wisdom of Myth. The great cross-cultural myths of antiquity were born of Silence. Our new understanding of myth as “true stories and true words” is born of Silence; true silence. Part of Mythosophy is learning to listen for the silence behind words and stories.
Before the Word, there was Silence; the Silence that speaks volumes; the creative silence pregnant with possibility, of what may be born; creation.