Re: A short essay on Silence...

["Kathleen Hamilton" <knhamilton@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What a beautiful piece!

Kathleen

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> From: David Staudacher <quiet@igc.apc.org>
> To: quiet-list@igc.org
> Subject: A short essay on Silence...
> Date: December 10, 1997 10:02 PM
> 
>    As I was waiting to pay for a purchase at my favorite bookshop, I 
> picked up a little book of Daily Meditations for each day of the 
> year and it fell open to this page.  I bought the book on the spot.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------  
>                         *  MARCH 1  *
> -------------------------------------------------------------------  
>            Silence is the element in which great things
>            fashion themselves.           - Thomas Carlyle
> 
>    There is great power and wisdom in growing to the point where 
> silence becomes our friend.  It is in silence that we best listen and 
> a great portion of life's best secrets can only be learned in silence.
> 
>    Those running from themselves and the hurtful lessons of the past 
> fear silence more than any other reality.  They fear they may hear 
> themselves in that silence.  Such people are always lonely - whether 
> alone or surronded by multitudes.
> 
>    In reality, if we stand still and be quiet, the word we hear softly 
> spoken in the inner court of our own castle is full of beauty and 
> loveliness.  If we listen we will learn that we are not bad, that we 
> are not disgusting, failure-ridden people, and we are not powerless.  
> Quite the contrary, there is much that is right and noble about us.
> 
>    Alone or lonely - it is a matter of courting silence or not.
>