Silence in Daily Living
As Silence becomes more an ongoing aspect of our lives, our perception of things of the world, and of others, changes from one in which we perceive surfaces to one in which we perceive the soul qualities of what is around us. We no longer have the impression that there are only things and persons in the world and that each thing or person occupies its own space, separate from what is next to it. Instead, we live in a fluid medium rather than a world of separate entities. There are no “its” in a world diffused with Silence; there is only the holiness of the “thou”. Our perceiving becomes a meeting. Once we have entered into this kind of experience, we realize that we had not previously perceived the depth of the world but only our own preconceptions of the world. Even more, we had not perceived the soul-presence of other people. We had unknowingly perceived others as objects and had, also unknowingly, been using other people solely as things upon which to project our own needs, desires, and fantasies. And in order to keep the illusion going, we had been allowing others to do the same to us. Without the presence of Silence, it is not possible truly to meet the world and other people. . .
We tame, sentimentalize, and crush the power of all that is around us by placing spiritual presences in the great Elsewhere: in deep outer space or into an imagined spiritual world or heaven or hell. These presences from Elsewhere occasionally grace us with a visit to reveal something of importance to us. They seem to be powerful servants who try to help at least some of us, or they seem to try to harm us. Either way, there is a vast gap between our earthly life and the worlds of spiritual or demonic beings. We imagine that there is a threshold separating the realms, and there may once have been such a threshold, as spiritual initiates have always spoken of one. Now, however, the threshold is dissolving. The world is pervaded with spiritual presences, and we brush against them each time we find the way into Silence.