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Devotional Comments
Sometimes there
would be
a rush of
noisy visitors
and the Silence
of the monastery
would be shattered.
This would upset
the disciples;
not the Master,
who seemed
just as content
with the noise
as with the Silence.
To his
protesting disciples
he said one day,
"Silence is not
the absence of sound,
but the absence
of self."
*Anthony de Mello
The early Egyptian monk Evagrius Ponticus (4th Century), wrote in his Chapters on Prayer:
Don't mistake smoke for light. God is Spirit. God has no bodily form we can imagine. Your spirit will remain in a deep calm during a time of prayer if you can grasp the meaning of "immaterial knowledge."
Immaterial knowledge is contemplative awareness, mystical knowledge. This knowledge is direct knowing of Spirit within, the Inner Christ.
In contemplation we withdraw the senses into the Inner Sanctum. We do this, not because Christ is only in us, but to receive, like a beam of laser light, a more directly experienced communion with Infinite Wisdom. Then, we can experience Christ more directly through the senses. Contemplation is a dying to the senses, not to deny the world, but to experience a rebirthing of the senses more receptive of Grace in nature.
The withdrawal of senses can lead to loss of awareness of external noises, but this is rare. Yet, by reaching that point of dissolution of the separate self, there is no self to be distracted by sound or frustrated by it as interruption. With no separate self to react, sound is sound, not interruption. The sound that passes through is seen to be an expression of the Light enlightening every creature.
Spiritual Exercise
Sit in quiet meditation. Listen to the sounds. Experience them as expressions of the Light enlightening all creatures. Be thankful for the sounds. Rejoice that you receive the sound as a reminder of the Beauty and Mystery of Wisdom Herself.
*De Mello poem from www.elsajoy.com .
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