Silence is terrifying. I think silence is a journey into the wilderness and into the dark and you can’t be sure what you’re going to encounter there. I think many people are rightly wary of silence because we use noise as a distraction and an evasion, and it’s a way of keeping away from everything that’s inside us and the people around us. Silence is a journey right into the heart of your being. This “being-ness” I believe was demonstrated by Jesus’ example; often disappearing into the desert and gardens for silent prayer and meditation. It's a reminder that when you go into the desert, you find demons as much as angels.
Thomas Merton, perhaps the greatest hymnist of silence in the 20th century,
speaks to us I think because so often he’s speaking in a voice of rage, and
restlessness, and fear. And what he’s keeping company with in his little
monastic cell is doubt as much as fear. Or Emily Dickinson, when she is in her
little room in Amherst, Massachusetts for 26 years, entertaining terror and
death as well as light and epiphany. But I always think that everybody has dark
places. They’re an experience in themselves, and those places don’t go away
just by pretending they don't exist, or turning in the other direction. Sooner
or later we have to confront them, and I found that there’s no more forgiving and
benign place in which to confront your dark spaces amidst the clatter of the
I-81 freeway or amidst the quiet of a monastery or a beautiful place in nature,
and I think the latter is always going to be a better option.
Today I offer you a longer piece of music. This simple piece, be still, is an hour long
meditation on Psalm 46:10 “Be Still and know that I am God”. I know that many
of us don’t have an hour to sit and listen to one piece of music. But I offer
it to you as a moment of prayer and meditation. If, for some of you, who like
to listen to music as you fall asleep, it’s an opportunity to allow the
minimalist textures gently rock you to sleep. This performance took place
earlier this year at the Toyosu Civic Center, Japan. Enjoy!
Click here to view on YouTube
Peace and Blessings to each of you,
Ryan Keebaugh
www.ryankeebaugh.com
