Silences

Friday, January 20, 2023

Leftover note from Tuesday, a reminder that it was the birth of A.A. Milne . The father of Christopher Robin and creator/author of Winnie-the-Pooh,.

. . .however inconsequential the content of our conversations, we are addicted to words borne on the sound of our own voices. . .Silence makes most people uncomfortable . . . Every fear, every doubt, every obsessive idea is vivid and insistent in the silent void. . .With enough noise, I can outrun my deepest fears. But in silence at 3 a.m., the fears win out. . .Usually, it takes a few—or a number of—meditation sessions sitting with the agitated mind before the true self appears. But with each session the fog lifts a bit more, until one day the ego “I,” with its insistent look-at-me voice, drops away, revealing the true self afloat in a vast blue sky. – Joan Duncan Oliver

We become who and what we are as a consequence of the mirrors held up to us by our well-(or not)-meaning adult care give/takers. See for example the excellent essay recently in Psyche:

As I express my gratitude, I become more deeply aware of it. And the greater my awareness, the greater my need to express it. – David Steindl-Rast.

Today I am grateful for the poetry of Miller Williams, one of the lovely mirrors of my adult life. So many of nature’s secrets are revealed to us only in the silence that often accompanies the end of a poem.