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Silence

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In the hustle and bustle of our modern lives, amidst the cacophony of voices clamoring for our attention, there exists a profound realm that often goes unnoticed—the realm of silence. Similar to our noticing printed words upon a page without being aware of the paper itself, we are usually aware of sound (including internal voices) without being aware of the ever-present background of pure silence. This mysterious silent field  has been with us our entire lives. Silence is a constancy we all share and which exists prior to the transient thoughts, feelings or sensations that usually dominate our attention. 

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Silence, far from being mere absence of noise, holds within it a multitude of layers, each offering a unique facet of insight into the essence of existence. Spiritual teachers throughout the ages have expounded upon the significance of silence, offering a tapestry of wisdom that invites us to delve deeper into the recesses of our innermost being.This theme resonates across diverse spiritual traditions.  

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True silence can be seen as the ultimate refuge, a sanctuary where the veils of duality dissolve, leaving behind pure being. and as the meeting point found beyond words, where true connection and understanding thrive. Each unique perspective on the transformative potential of silence, whether it is the deep inner peace or the ineffable mystery, beckons us to value the uncharted territories of our own consciousness.

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Silence can be seen as an unconditioned expression of Reality itself—a wordless prayer, an effortless stillness that unveils the eternal truths hidden within. It is the communion with the divine, the meeting place of the finite and the infinite. In this collection of quotes, we are invited to embark on a journey into the heart of silence, where the mind's chatter fades into the background, and spirit emerges. 

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Quotes

 

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When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.

~ Eckhart Tolle

 

There is a silence that is totally impersonal. It is not the fruit of anybody’s work. Peace is there, but there is no peacekeeper. This Peace is only known when the noise of the person is not present. Without the 'person' all that remains is the ever Pure. The Ultimate is nobody’s achievement at all.

~ Mooji

 

The highest teaching in the world is Silence. There is nothing higher than this. A devotee who sits with a sage purifies his mind just by being with the sage. No words exchanged, no words said. Silence is the Ultimate Reality. Everything exists in this world through Silence. True silence really means going deep within yourself to that place where nothing is happening, where you transcend time and space. You go into a brand new dimension of nothingness. That is where all the power is. That's your real home. That's where you really belong where there is no good and bad, no one trying to achieve anything. Just being - pure being. The only freedom you will ever have is when you go deep into the Silence and you transcend, transmute the universe,your body and your affairs.

~ Robert Adams

 

What's looking and what's seeing? There's not that much there. There's just this simple, ordinary presence, and it is so unadorned. You can run right by it if you're looking for something fancy. It's always been here, it has no age, it doesn't really have any properties or qualities, it's just this intelligence. It's so quiet, that's why they call it silence. 

~ Pamela Wilson 

 

Silence is God's first language; everything else is a poor translation. In order to hear that language, we must learn to be still and to rest in God. 

~ Fr. Thomas Keating 

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Silence keeps silent, it is an eternal current of "language."It stops when you start to talk, because words are an obstacle to this silent "language." Speeches and conferences can distract people for hours without any benefit. Silence is permanent and advances all mankind. Silence is eloquence. Verbal instructions are never as eloquent as silence. Silence is a constant eloquence... that's the best language.

~ Ramana Maharshi

 

The greatest teaching is in silence. If you're silent enough, things come to you. The wisdom is inside of you.

~ Jac O'Keeffe

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Silence is something that comes from the heart, not from the outside. Silence doesn't mean not talking and not doing things: it means that you are not disturbed inside. If you're truly silent, then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

 

You are the One which is aware of the Awareness of objects and ideas. You are the One which is even more silent than Awareness. You are the life which precedes the concept of life. Your nature is Silence and it is not attainable, it always Is. 

~ Papaji 

 

Silence is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it. There is no substitute for the creative inspiration, knowledge, and stability that come from knowing how to contact your core of inner silence. 

~ Deepak Chopra 

 

There is a silence within, a silence that descends from without; a silence that stills existence and a silence that engulfs the entire universe. There is a silence of the self and its faculties of will, thought, memory, and emotions. There is a silence in which there is nothing, a silence in which there is something; and finally, there is the silence of no-self and the silence of God. 

~ Bernadette Roberts 

 

We're fascinated by the words - but where we meet is in the silence behind them.

~ Ram Dass

 

Trust yourself. At the root, at the core,  there is pure sanity, pure openness. Don't trust what you have been taught,  what you think, what you believe, what you hope. Deeper than that, trust the silence of your being.

~ Gangaji

 

In the sweet territory of silence we touch the mystery. It's the place of reflection and contemplation, and it's the place where we can connect with the deep knowing, to the deep wisdom way. 

~ Angeles Arrien

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There is a way between voice and presence where information flows. In disciplined silence it opens. With wandering talk it closes." 

~ Rumi

 

Meditation is neither a means to an end nor something to perfect. Meditation done correctly is an expression of Reality, not a path to it. . . Meditation is the art of allowing everything to simply be in the deepest possible way. . . The silence and stillness of meditation is the bedrock upon which this teaching rests. . . True Meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrounded, pure silent prayer. All methods aiming at achieving a certain state of mind are limited, impermanent, and conditioned. . . True meditation is effortless stillness, abidance as primordial being.

~ Adyashanti

 

At the core is the transmission into deep silence I received in the cave that was home to Sri Ramana Maharshi on Mount Arunachala in southern India. "We can’t do spiritual transformation. When we relax the interference, it finds us.". . . To be, do, get, become, seek for, and relinquish nothing is not only a transmission of the deep silence but a very practical path that invites us to simply be here, be now, rest undefended with what is.

~ Miranda Macpherson

 

Anything you want to ask a teacher, ask yourself, and wait for the answer in silence.

~ Byron Katie

 

You need not go to heaven to see God; nor need you speak loud, as if God were far away; nor need you cry for wings like a dove to fly to Him. Only be in silence, and you will come upon God within yourself. 

~ Saint Teresa of Avila

 

By becoming fully present with your breathing body or with the sound of a bird singing or with a tree or with a cloud moving across the sky, you bring yourself out of the mind with its constant chattering thought into the silence and eternal peace of the present moment.

~ Leonard Jacobson

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There is greater value in being silent and waiting for something of value to say than saying a thousand things that have no value.

~ Isra

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Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

~ Khalil Gibran

 

I think 99 times and find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in the silence, and the truth comes to me.

~ Albert Einstein

 

Only in the silence will you find reality.  Self-inquiry leads to silence,  surrender leads to silence.  Be still and know that I-am God. I will never leave you nor forsake you. In this case the I is consciousness, absolute reality, I-am that I-am. This is the only refuge you've got.

~Robert Adams

 

All that is necessary to awaken to yourself as the radiant emptiness of spirit is to stop seeking something more or better or different, and to turn your attention inward to the awake silence that you are. 

~ Adyashanti

 

Silence is what surrounds everything, if you look long enough. It is the space between letters, words, and paragraphs that makes them decipherable and meaningful. When you can train yourself to reverence the silence around things, you first begin to see things in themselves and for themselves. This "divine" silence is before, after, and between all events for those who see respectfully (to re-spect is "to see again").

~ Fr. Richard Rohr

 

What precisely is meant by silence? Metaphysically, silence does not mean the complementary opposite of noise, although, of course, the negation of noise as an aid to thought can never be questioned. But what silence means metaphysically is absence of thought, the very absence of mentation or cerebration. Such silence is that interval between thoughts (or between the inhalation and the exhalation) that is imperceptible to the split-mind of subject and object as being of infinitesimal duration, but which is the reality of infinite duration because it is the intemporal whole-mind: the “Witness” of Vedanta, the “Buddha-mind” of Chian, the “Father” of Christianity. Indeed, it is the permanent background - the consciousness - against which time is experienced as duration.

~ Ramesh Balsekar

 

Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.

~ Rumi

 

Silence is the communing of a conscious soul with itself. If the soul attend for a moment to its own infinity, then and there is silence. She is audible to all men, at all times, in all places, and if we will we may always hearken to her admonitions.

~ Henry David Thoreau

 

There is something greater and purer than what the mouth utters. Silence illuminates our souls, whispers to our hearts, and brings them together. Silence separates us from ourselves, makes us sail the firmament of spirit, and brings us closer to heaven.

~ Kahlil Gibran

 

The silence before your mind and the silence before my mind is the same silence. Discover that silence and abide there. It is infinite and eternal peace, the all-pervading Reality. 

~ Michael Rodriquez

 

I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...” 

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

 

You are primal awareness. Life is only primal awareness. Be knowingly silent as often as you can and you will no longer be a prey to the desire to be this or that. You will discover in the everyday events of life the meaning behind the fulfillment of the whole, for the ego is totally absent.

~ Jean Klein

 

In meditation, silence comes on its own accord. You simply go on watching the mind without any control, without any repression, and silence comes suddenly just like a breeze, and with the silence, the fragrance of the flowers — that is your blissfulness; it is your own fragrance which you were not capable of knowing because there was so much noise.

~ Osho

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You are all searching for the silence of the mountain. But you’re looking for something outside. This silence is accessible to you right now, inside the center of your own being. 

~ Ramana Maharshi

 

Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self.

~ Anthony de Mello

 

Now be silent. Let the One who creates words speak. He made the door. He made the lock. He also made the key. Let silence take you to the core of life.

~ Rumi

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Silence is the true teaching. It is the perfect teaching.

It is suited only for the most advanced seeker.

The others are unable to draw full inspiration from it.

Therefore they require words to explain the truth.

But truth is beyond words....

~ Ramana Maharshi

 

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