The Gifts of a Quiet Mind

Inner silence offers presence. Quietness can be a friend to embrace whatever is happening within us and around us, in the here and now. In fact, most of the known universe is understood to be a silent vacuum. A deep and peaceful space enfolds Mother Earth.

Silence rests on the breeze. Within each conscious breath, we can find a safe and quiet refuge. Silence beholds a wordless profundity when gazing pupil-to-pupil with another living being. Silence caresses the curled locks of a sleeping child, sweet and innocent. Yet, there may be times in life when the simple joys of a silent mind are passed by. Raucous cacophonies of mindmade activity richochet into discord, disharmony, alarm and chaos. The rich and peaceful silences that punctuate and envelope our days are erased and life becomes a long sentance. When silence is abandoned, sensory noise burns pathways through the brain and frazzles the sensitive body. Needs go unmet, feelings churn with anger and fear, as we seek for more of the external world. If we cut off from the quiet and stillness inside, then nothing can ever be savoured, and nothing will ever be enough.

Of course silence may contain sound. Sound is the vibration of energised particles reaching the ear drum of those privileaged enough to hear. However silence is also a condition where beauty can be witnessed through any or all of the senses. It is a receptiveness and a surrender; it is a willingness to dance and weave in and out of mysterious sounds, thoughts, sights, and phenomena. A silent mind is present and resists being taken over and lost into the frey of entropy. When we let our bodies process through the senses only what nourishes, then we guard our nerves with the soft, sweetness of a silent self-embrace. Each moment when we recall our serene gift of silence, we can reunite and come into a conscious relationship with all the many aspects of us. Thoughts, values, feelings and beliefs whirl around inner being, yet we can quietly discover that none of these are a fixed self. We are everchanging and still so much more than we think we are.

Silence is the alchemical vessel. It is a container for all that goes on in the mind and worldly phenomena. Some of us may praise the loving whispers within us as angels from the divine that echo through the quiet, dark cave of our body, softly illuminating our original innocence and worth. Spiritual practitioners, psychologists, and philosophers through the ages have panned for gold in the silent stream of clear flowing thought. In silent reflection, the suffering grown ups can reconcile with the hurt child within, and offer soothing, nurturance and protection. We may sweep away the broken and scattered pieces of that were the once the walls around our hearts, and on the silent and fertile ground may build a shimmering palace, with every door and window held open to wholesomeness. We can let a fresh breeze flow through, and rest our heads on the silk covers stitched with our hearts' highest dreams. Silent contemplation protects us, guards us, guides us away from trouble.

And the beauty of silence births words that are radiant with imaginal power! Long pauses have nourished words with faith, love and healing. Wholesome words are born from quiet contemplation, when the old ways are melted down and transformed into the elixir of life that gives eternal youth to the grandmother whose love lights up countless generations. Compassionate radiance is the quality of real, wild, untamed silence.

This is not a controlling silence that suppresses or withholds. It is an infinity of spacious love, and all its many treasured gifts. It is a silence that works as an artist to transform raw materials and unwholesome energies into insight and beauty. Gifts of silence can only be received with an empty mind, and that is why the quiet mind is rich beyond measure.