The gift of silence

CEBU, Philippines — The modern world is very loud. Cars honking, sirens blaring, phones ringing, the stereo blasting, people shouting. It’s so loud that it has become hard to hear anything.

And yet every day many people individually go through an onslaught of feelings without uttering a single word. They just hold it all inside. And they find it to be very worthwhile.

In the absence of noise, one may relish every momentary emotion. There is good opportunity to focus when auditory distractions are shorn out of the way. And focus is power.

It is focus that gives the laser beam its amazing power. Ordinary light concentrated is able to cut through hard metal. As laser light can cut through hard objects, it also has medical use in penetrating damaged human tissues to heal it, a procedure that is hardly noticeable to the physical sense because of the sheer sharpness of the light.

And silence is a powerful way of communicating… especially communicating with oneself. Thoughts become crystal clear without the ear feeding the mind with clatter. It’s much easier to grasp the ultimate truth of things.

Silence works in many ways in human relationships as well. So much can be conveyed without a single word said. Silence speaks through the eyes, which glow in happiness, allow tears to fall silently in sorrow, and gives that coy look in love. Much more is told in nothing said.

A harsh word unsaid can do no harm. It spares the would-be speaker from eventual guilt and another from possible hurt feelings. Silence brings peace.

In a practical sense, stress and pain are often effectively relieved by silence. After a hard day’s labor, the worker often seeks a quiet atmosphere to rest and be alone. He switches off his thoughts in order to calm down. In that silence, his tired body is recharged.

Silence relieves pain. In the face of physical or emotional pain, silence can work wonders. Thus, the sign “Please observe silence” in hospitals. It is also in taking a moment of silence that one may gather the strength to weather through the pain of a broken vow.

The very absence of sound is always too nice to hear. For in silence one hears the whisper of his soul. Silence is the language of the divine.

It is silent meditation which connects one to God. In this two-way bridge, one first speaks to God in the peace of the silence. Then God speaks back, and one is connected to the supreme power.

The Bible (1 Kings 19:9b-18) relates of the time that all the prophets were being hunted down and killed. The only one that remained was prophet Elijah, whom God told to go stand on a mountain because He was passing by. Then there was a windstorm, an earthquake, and a fire, one after the other. In all of those, Elijah did not find God. But after the fire, there was a whisper. Elijah found God in the whisper.

It is impossible to hear a soft whisper amid noise. And every human being needs soothing and tender whisper to sustain his spirit.