Silence. What Is It Good For?

Absolutely Everything.

photo by author

Brief:

(suggested background music: Good Excuse, John Butler Trio)

Return to the source, get into the flow. Silence is more than turning the volume down. Stay centered in the silence.

Full:

(suggested background music: When You’re Falling, Afrocelt Sound System)

To clarify, I’m not talking about volume of sound. I’m talking about neuronic noise, those sensory overloads of information and seemingly endless exertions that overwhelm us.

For our personal paradigms, silence should be considered as a choice. If not volume, then what do I mean by silence?

There is a concept in Taoism called Wu Wei. Wu Wei is the notion of non-action, of quietude, of meditation and serenity. That’s what I mean.

In such a place, one can connect with the eternal Tao, the overself, the eternal god-force. I equate it to the concept of flow states.

Stillness is not quite the same thing, perhaps a derivative of silence, or an aspect of it. Or even a companion state.

You can be silent but not still. It’s hard to be still if if there’s movement or noise, but you can hold on to internal silence even when things are chaotic and noisy around you.

In a position of silence, you won’t have to struggle or push. There’s no need to dominate, to force your will onto a circumstance or person.

There’s only the need to harmonize with the events around you, influencing them as you are able with gentle nods of direction.

There’s obviously a difference between struggling for something and doing something to help facilitate an outcome. It’s okay to have effort as you move toward goals. It’s not okay to struggle.

Struggling can be defined as leaning emotionally toward a goal or target, yearning for it, feeling pressure when it hasn’t been reached.

Effort is taking consistent small steps in an organized and disciplined way so that when you look back, you’ve gained some distance over time.

Effort is a natural part of our existence. You have to exert effort for any action. The trick is to exert effort without lacing it with emotions of anxiety and worry.

Examine your underlying motivations for any action that you choose, and determine if those motivations are colored by emotional directives that are helpful, or by ones that aren’t.

There are emotional positions that can be positive: is a feeling good? Does it feel strong? Does it feel right?

The beneficial emotions have signals for us, but they are often so subtle that unless one has embraced silence as an underlying perspective, they might go unnoticed, unheard.

Emotive states that sometimes aren’t helpful include trying to reach a goal within a certain time frame. It might be your attempt to influence people or convince them of something, but they might not want to be influenced or convinced. It might be chasing recognition for something you’ve done.

There are other questions to consider, questions that emotively can be either helpful or not, depending on your answers. Are you juggling too many things at once? Are you staying within your personal capabilities? Do you recognize that there are circumstances and forces outside of your control that, like it or not, will influence outcomes?

Consolidate your silence. Embrace patience and flow. Move away from resistance and toward simplicity. Move toward it relentlessly with awareness, adjusting your actions as needed without the added exertion that unnecessary emotion will bring.

Stay balanced, stay within your capabilities, and trust the universe, the Tao, to deliver what you need.

Silence is the ability to delegate your energy, to be patient and wait for things to unfold naturally. It’s the ability to perceive your strengths and determine where your best path lies.

Review your options in meditation, and see if one option feels stronger than others. Act on both your intellect and your emotions.

Embracing your silence also provides protection. It allows you to remain calm when someone acts or speaks in a way they think will provoke you, or make you feel enraged. How wonderful it is to remain silent when you’re expected to be angry.

Your silence will accept life and not attempt to force it, will be aware that in the abundance of the great universal mind there is no time, and will know when to act and not act until you know.

Your silence allows you to wait forever, if you have to, as silence is eternal. It reveals the abundance and value of worthy relationships, and provides the understanding that such treasures only come when you’re settled, when you’re aware of the ebb and flow of the seasons.

When you obtain silence, you’ll move relentlessly toward freedom, toward limitless goals, one relentless step at a time.

Silence will provide you with both a personal approach to all your circumstances, and also allow you to engage larger issues when needed, and in the correct way.

When you find your silence, you will find your center. Your center will be a rising quiet central no-pressure place where you can live eternally.

Outside of the center is a rotating hurricane made of one’s own ego, challenging other egos in a chaotic high-velocity dervish whirl.

As you move from the center, as you leave the silence behind, the roar from the storm increasingly deafens you as you join the dance.

Your silence, your quietude, is found in the center only, not outside. Your push and pull struggles, your non-silent being, your created hells are outside the center.

In the center of silence you are off the ceaseless wheel of karma, the unending upheaval of life. You join the creators of the universe, the creators of us.

Seek silence. You have to be silent to hear.

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Flow state resources:

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-science-of-why-flow-states-feel-so-good-according-to-a-cognitive-scientist

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/clearer-thinking-today/202411/how-to-achieve-the-flow-state

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7551835/