The Sound of Silence

BE STILL Shiviti¹

Be still and know that I AM is God.²

— translation by Ted Falcon

Silence is Praise.³

— Psalm 65:2 Robert Alter Translation

Let all the earth 
keep silence 
before the Lord.⁴

— Habakkuk 2:20 JPS

O Worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness.

— Psalm 96:9 JPS
AX 46

Go! Shut thyself
within thy house.

— Ezekiel 3:24

Enter into [the Lord's] sanctuary,
which [the Lord] hath sanctified for ever...

— II Chronicles 30:8 JPS
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Commune with your own heart 
and be still.

Psalms 4:5

Enter thou into thy chambers
and shut thy doors.

— Isaiah 26:20 JPS

When thou prayest enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father-Mother
which is in secret;
and thy Father-Mother
which seeth in secret 
shall reward thee openly.⁵

— Matthew 6:06 KJV

A mind that is touched
by the absolute falls silent.
With the mind silent,
all that remains is simply being,
God’s being — the ultimate reality
and the heart of prayer.⁶

— Rupert Spira

That which is called today “depth psychology“
does not, in actual fact,
reach the deepest part of us
where the image of God resides…

It is this obscure presence of God
in our depths
that we must discover and bring to light.
Then…in a certain sense,
God encounters God
by the spirit of the risen Christ,
and then there is peace:

That calm, that security,
that repose, that Sabbath, that leisure,
that reality so rich
that it cannot be circumscribed
by any words.⁷

— J. Leclercq, Clervaux Abby, Luxembourg

The highest level of Holiness
is expressed in Silence.
It is in Silence that
the Holiness of existence
is seen in its Wholeness.

It is in Silence that one transcends
one’s own particularity,
and lives life in its universality,
in the life of all Being.

One becomes the Light of the Universe,
which is the basis of one’s Being,
and the vitalizing energy of ongoing life.⁸

— Abraham Isaac Kook

Taste the reality
of...deep quiet

That
is the taste
of God.

— Rabbi Rami Shapiro 

The Prayer of Silence is actually spoken
by the Divine Voice within us.⁹

— Zohar Pt. 1, fol 169a

God speaks
out of the innermost being of the mystic
while [the mystic] is silent.¹⁰

— Al-Junayd

Pure prayer begins
at the threshold of silence.
It says nothing, asks for nothing.

It is a kind of listening.
The deeper the listening,
the less we listen for,
until silence itself
becomes the voice of God.¹¹

— Stephen Mitchell

With our stillness and our silence,
we listen for the Voice
that speaks every particle of creation
into being.¹²

— from the Desert Mothers

In silence, 
a being is identified
with its pure freedom —
with that pure possibility of itself 
which it discovers
when it retires 
within itself.¹³

— Gisele Brelet

Move outside the tangle 
of fear-thinking.
Live in silence. 

[Transcend.]
Flow down
and down
[and down…] 
in always widening rings 
of Being.¹⁴

— Rumi

Silence is God's first language.¹⁵

— St. John of the Cross

[Silence is God's first language.]
Everything else is a poor translation.
In order to hear that language,
we must learn to be still
and to rest in God.¹⁶

— attributed to Father Thomas Keating,
commenting on St. John of the Cross 

One who is in Silence 
is not withdrawn from the world 
but is immersed in life...

One’s life becomes 
the holy of the holy,
life at its highest.¹⁷

— Abraham Isaac Kook

Silence is the ultimate [eternal] connection.¹⁸

— Rick Jacobs

Stand still in that power that [is] peace.
Stand still in that which is pure.¹⁹

— George Fox

Even a conscious glimpse of the Absolute
is enough to change our experience in the relative.²⁰

— Expressions of Joy

When the thinker is lost
in the eminence of [divine] Mind,
the healing takes place.²¹

—attributed to Mary Baker Eddy

Silence is the divine manner of manifestation.

God reveals Himself to the listening ear...
in complete stillness.

In Silence we find God 
and commune with...Spirit...

Be still and in the holy awe 
know that God exists.²²

— Alfred Moses

Let us, then, labor for an inward stillness
and an inward healing;

That perfect silence 
where the lips and heart are still, 
and we no longer entertain
our own imperfect thoughts 
and vain opinions, 

But God alone speaks in us,
and we wait in singleness of heart,
that we may know God’s will, 
and in the silence of our spirits,
that we may do God’s will,
and do that only.²³

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Have a daily hour to listen, 
then you will become so open 
to the spiritual side of your being 
that you can be talking to others 
and yet listening to Spirit
at the same time.

And if you practice listening faithfully, 
you will be able to hear
the ‘still small voice’ 
of Spirit, even in the
turmoil of daily life.²⁴

— Charles Fillmore

Silence is not the absence of sound;
silence is the absence of the little self.²⁵

— Rumi

Echoes

There is no Jewish silence
and Christian silence
and Buddhist silence.

Silence is the one thing
all human beings forever
have always shared.

It's the one thing in our own lives
that never changes.
It was the same when we were kids;
it's the same when we're growing;
it's the same when we're old.

There is a single silence
that we're sharing all the time.²⁶

— Ted Falcon

A tree grows from the silence of a seed…
daytime follows the silence of the night…
there’s silence between each word we speak,
between each note we sing.

Silence is always with us!²⁷

— Expressions of Joy

A contented mind is
the greatest blessing
one can enjoy…²⁸

— Joseph Addison

The verdict of the ages
is that “nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”
No one can give you a gift of a serene mind,
a calm and tranquil way of life. 
It is something you must develop
for yourself, within yourself.²⁹

— Lilian Eichler Watson
quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be at ease,
and be quiet,
and none shall make you afraid.

— inspired by Jeremiah 30:10

God is not silent.
God is Silence.³⁰

— Unknown Rabbi with Jewish-Christian Relations
inspired by Psalms 50:3
and Robert Sarah

Search and discover
the root of your soul.  

“If your mind races
return to the place.

Return to where you were
before the thought.

[Return to
the site of Oneness.”]³¹

— Erling Duus Christensen
inspired by Kabbalah 

Silence is
the finest of sounds.³²

—  Menahem Mendel of Kotzk

Acquaint now thyself with God
and be at peace.

— Job 22:21

The silence is the most important subject 
that Unity teaches. 
It is the heart of the Unity ministry.

It is an inner teaching 
and an inner leading.

It is simple, 
yet the most advanced of all teaching.³³

— E.V. Ingraham

With our lives and our wisdom, 
we choose a creation made in the image of God. 

With our humility and our obedience, 
we choose not to judge one another. 

With our stillness and our silence, 
we listen for the Voice that speaks 
every particle of creation into being.³⁵

— The Desert Mothers

Think and act from the still point.

This heavenly realm of thought
is a state of bliss and balance.
Isaiah refers to a new heaven and a new earth,
upheld by the Will of God.  

John likewise describes
a new heaven and a new earth.³⁴

— Expressions of Joy
inspired by Isaiah 66:22
and Revelation 21:1 

Lead us up beyond unknowing and light,
up to the farthest, highest peak of mystic scripture,
where the mysteries of God’s Word
lie simple, absolute and unchangeable
in the brilliant darkness of a hidden silence.³⁶

— Dionysius the Areopagite

We pray with words
until the words are cut off
and we are left in a state of wonder.³⁷

— St. Isaac the Syrian

The ‘still small voice’
doesn’t mean it’s small.

It literally means
it’s ‘the sound of subtle silence.’³⁸

— Igal Harmelin

There is a voice
that does not use words.
Listen.³⁹

— Rumi

Waves of the Ocean

[1] BE STILL shiviti, © 1990-2000 Joy Hirshberg, inspired by Psalm 46:11 JPS and Psalm 46:10 KJV

[2] Ted Falcon, Mantras with Rabbi Ted Falcon - Salt House, Aug. 9, 2020 • https://youtu.be/dEbmZnREHYA • 08.30.2021 AX 7886

[3] Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms, (W.W. Norton Company, 2007), Psalm 65:2 • In his footnote for this verse, Alter addresses, “To you, silence is praise." He says, “Despite many divergent interpretations of the Hebrew noun dumiyah, the most likely meaning, in view of other biblical occurrences of the verbal root it reflects, is ‘silence.’” • See also: https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2011/12/12/psalm-65-for-you-silence-is-praise/ • 01.10.22

[4] [the Lord] replaces “Him”

[5] [Father-Mother] replaces “Father” • replacement inspired by Genesis 1:26, 27 that says, “Let us make man [and woman] in our image after our likeness. Let them have dominion…male and female created he them.”

[6] Rupert Spira, The Heart of Prayer, (Sahaja Publications, 2023), p. 114 AX 7697

[7] Evagrius Ponticus, The Pratikos and Chapters on Prayer, (Cistercian Publications, 1972), p. xii • [us] and [we] replace “men” and “man, ” [our] replaces “his”

[8] http://www.hiddensplendor.com/silence.htm 01.11.2001 • [one] replaces “the individual,” [one’s] replaces “his,” [One] replaces “He,” and [one’s] replaces “his’”

[9] Nintzel, Hans W., Meditation And The Western Tradition,
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~panopus/parachemy/parachemyv4.htm • 08.04.2004

[10] Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Travelling the Path of Love: Sayings of Sufi Masters, (McNaughton & Gunn, 1995), p. 12 • https://truthisone.org/docs/insights/mind-is-the-obstacle.htm • 01.28.2001 • [the mystic] replaces “he”

[11] Mitchell, Stephen, A Book of Psalms, (New York: Harper Perennial, 1993), p. 15 AX 6375

[12] Eucharistic Prayer D, The Book of Common Prayer as found in The Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness by Mary C. Earle

[13] Science of Creative Intelligence for Secondary Education, (Maharishi International University Press, 1975), p. 232

[14] Barks, Coleman, Translator, The Essential Rumi, (HarperCollins, 1995), p. 3 • With great respect we offer the ripened words [Transcend.] and [and down…]

[15] https://www.mary.org/blog/201906/gods-first-language-silence#.YaEIjb3MI6Y • 11.25.2021 

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ted Falcon, Life at Its Highest, Reform Judaism, Summer 2003, Vol 31, No. 4, • http://reformjudaismmag.net/03summer/life.shtml • 04.18.2005

[18] Rick Jacobs quoted in The Eternal Conversation by Alfredo Borodowski, The NY Jewish Week, March 12, 2013, • https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/the-eternal-conversation/ • 03.12.2013

[19] [is] replaces “brings” • http://www.quakercenter.org/programs/quaker-quote-archive/ • 11.25.2021

[20] Joy Hirshberg, Expressions of Joy, The Science of Silence, the Science of Be-ing, https://www.expressionsofjoy.com/readexpressions/the-science-of-silence

[21] Mary Baker Eddy, as found in Gilbert Carpenter, Course in Divinity and General Collectanea of Items By and About Mary Baker Eddy, (Rare Book Company), p. 237

[22] Alfred Moses, Jewish Science: Psychology of Health, Joy, and Success, or The Applied Psychology of Judaism, (Searcy & Pfaff, Ltd.), p. 135 AX 4781

[23] Henry W. Longfellow, The Complete Poetical Works, (Good Press, 2019), p. 881• [God’s} replaces “His”

[24] Charles Fillmore, Weekly Unity WU033011/9 AX 4090

[25] Imam Jamal Rahman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLH-VQ-0Vb0&ab_channel=UnityVancouver • 06.26.2021 AX 6685

[26] Rabbi Ted Falcon, Japan, What is Oneness and Unity? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BambQGKXqWg 06.07.01 AX 6566

[27] Joy Hirshberg, The Sound of Silence, Unity Center of Des Moines, https://www.expressionsofjoy.com/readexpressions/the-science-of-silence 01.19.2025

[28] Lillian Eichler Watson, Light from Many Lamps, (Simon and Shuster, 1951), p. 231 AX 1336

[29] Ibid., p. 214

[30] Unknown Rabbi, Jewish-Christian Relations, http://www.jcrelations.net/australia/nsw/shoah2.htm and The Editors, ADOREMUS, Cardinal Sarah Talks Liturgical Silence, https://adoremus.org/2016/11/cardinal-sarah-talks-liturgical-silence/ 01.21.2025 AX 2915

[31] W E Gutman, ERLING DUUS CHRISTENSEN: 1940-2000, (Honduras This Week, October 3, 2000), http://www.marrder.com/htw/oct2000/editorial.htm 02.23.2001

[32] Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk, @One daily message 09.18.2000 AX 3290

[33] E.V. Ingraham, Unity Archives Biography & Manuscript Collection (Box 2 Folder 22 Training School Coursework L.E. Meyer, 1933) AX 5423

[34] Joy Hirshberg, The Sound of Silence, Unity Center of Des Moines, https://www.expressionsofjoy.com/readexpressions/the-science-of-silence 01.19.2025

[35] Mary C Earle, The Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness,(Morehouse Publishing, 2007), p. 6 AX 6827

[36] Andrew Harvey, Teachings of the Christian MysticsCharles Fillmore (Shambhala. Kindle Edition) AX 6832

[37] St. Isaac the Syrian recorded by Evagrios [Evagrius] of Ponticus, On Prayer 61 • http://truthisone.org/docs/majorpaths/ceasingthoughts/nothoughts-christianity.htm • 05.18.2002 • for further study: https://saintsophiadc.org/prayers-st-isaac-syrian/• 01.12.2022 • see also the section entitled, The Highest Stages of Prayer, https://jbburnett.com/resources/alfeyev_prayer-in-isaac-syr.pdf • 01.12.2022 AX 2912 

[38] Igal Harmelin, Abraham Lesson 1 2024 AX XXXX

[39] Reza Noubary, Rumi In Rhyme: POEM-TO-POEM TRANSLATION OF RUMI'S RUBA'IYAT, (Fulton Books, Inc., 2021) AX 8258

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