Dear Joshua, Thank you for this meditation on silence ... and indeed on meditation. It's fascinating to me how difficult it is to put some of these things into words, yet the experiences happen anyway. At least for me, it's all about staying open and allowing things to remain a mystery. The longer I'm around, the more I want to do that. Thanks for your post-- it has given me much to think about on this Christmas Eve. I very much appreciate your writing.
Thank you, Hal. I don't know that I have any particular expertise in meditation, but that does seem to be what most Quakers do with an hour of silence. Staying open is part of it, indeed. Happy holidays to you.
Your description of being in a Meeting where silence allows your inner voice to surface and speak reminds me of my spiritual journey through and with nature. As I pondered 45 years ago whether or not to embark on the messy, painful journey of divorce I gained insight by spending time alone in the woods or on the banks of the Kootenai River. Clarity came in fits and starts until I was certain of the path needed to save my soul and sanity. Allowing silence opens pathways for joy and healing.
Interestingly, I used to be bad at being alone in nature, even though I loved wilderness. I think learning how to be attentively silent for an hour in Quaker meeting has made me more capable of feeling content with other forms of solitude, even if solitude is not exactly what happens in Meeting. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this, Joshua. I’m taken by your note about relying on poets to “bring back glimmers of the sublime.” That’s it, exactly. And ZNH’s book, and they very passage, are touchstones for me. I love that she was a folklorist and collected some of the stories in that book from her research in the South. Reading this has renewed my motivation to try the Friends Meeting here. We had such good experiences with the UU’s that I got a little lazy.
Thank you, Julie. I'd be curious about your experience in a Quaker meeting. I've only attended one, and it is the traditional Pennsylvania sort. I'm told there are many with all the programming you'd expect from any other church service. Those would not be meetings for me. I don't need to hear a sermon or sing "worship" songs. Attentive presence in the absence of ceremony is enough for me.
Dear Joshua, Thank you for this meditation on silence ... and indeed on meditation. It's fascinating to me how difficult it is to put some of these things into words, yet the experiences happen anyway. At least for me, it's all about staying open and allowing things to remain a mystery. The longer I'm around, the more I want to do that. Thanks for your post-- it has given me much to think about on this Christmas Eve. I very much appreciate your writing.
Thank you, Hal. I don't know that I have any particular expertise in meditation, but that does seem to be what most Quakers do with an hour of silence. Staying open is part of it, indeed. Happy holidays to you.
The search is the key and the lock is connection.
Beautifully put, Mary. That is a poem all in itself.
Your description of being in a Meeting where silence allows your inner voice to surface and speak reminds me of my spiritual journey through and with nature. As I pondered 45 years ago whether or not to embark on the messy, painful journey of divorce I gained insight by spending time alone in the woods or on the banks of the Kootenai River. Clarity came in fits and starts until I was certain of the path needed to save my soul and sanity. Allowing silence opens pathways for joy and healing.
Interestingly, I used to be bad at being alone in nature, even though I loved wilderness. I think learning how to be attentively silent for an hour in Quaker meeting has made me more capable of feeling content with other forms of solitude, even if solitude is not exactly what happens in Meeting. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this, Joshua. I’m taken by your note about relying on poets to “bring back glimmers of the sublime.” That’s it, exactly. And ZNH’s book, and they very passage, are touchstones for me. I love that she was a folklorist and collected some of the stories in that book from her research in the South. Reading this has renewed my motivation to try the Friends Meeting here. We had such good experiences with the UU’s that I got a little lazy.
Thank you, Julie. I'd be curious about your experience in a Quaker meeting. I've only attended one, and it is the traditional Pennsylvania sort. I'm told there are many with all the programming you'd expect from any other church service. Those would not be meetings for me. I don't need to hear a sermon or sing "worship" songs. Attentive presence in the absence of ceremony is enough for me.