The Practice of Stillness: Finding God in Silence and Contemplation

Sunday Awe

We live in a busy and noisy world. We can’t seem to go or be anywhere without background noise. At home, we have the TV, radio, or Alexa on. We have earbuds playing something while walking, running, or working out. While driving, we listen to podcasts or audiobooks. On planes, we watch movies. At restaurants, the music may be so loud that we can barely hear each other, and there are a dozen TVs to distract us. Our phones are always dinging, and social media is clamoring for our attention, rewarding us with tiny doses of dopamine. Even our meditations are guided.

Silence can be scary. My mind tends to race from one thing to another, or it becomes obsessed with something or rehearses a real or imagined conversation. It alternately congratulates and condemns me. As C.S. Lewis said in reference to his inner life, he found “a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds” (Mere Christianity).

We do everything we can to avoid silence because silence forces us to experience our pain. As Anna Lembke says in Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, “We’re all running from pain. Some of us take pills. Some of us couch surf while binge-watching Netflix. Some of us read romance novels. We’ll do almost anything to distract ourselves from ourselves. Yet all this trying to insulate ourselves from pain seems only to have made our pain worse.”

Though we run from it, stillness is what we all need. Henri Nouwen wrote, “In solitude, we find the space to let our restless hearts be touched by the quiet presence of God” (The Way of the Heart).

We all need our hearts to be touched by God. It is here that we find healing for our pain. It is here that we find peace. It is in silence that we can hear God.

As you approach this week, look for small opportunities to still your heart and mind. Below is a meditation that I first heard from James Findley, based on Psalm 46:10. Take a deep breath and slowly repeat the verse in your head, each time shortening it until you are left with the essence of being, which is complete stillness.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Monday Awe: Silence as God’s Language

• Thomas Merton: “Silence is God’s first language; everything else is a poor translation.” (Thoughts in Solitude)
• Evagrius Ponticus: “A theologian is one who prays, and one who prays is a theologian. This is the way to behold the incomprehensible God.” (Chapters on Prayer)
• Anthony the Great: “When you sit in silence, do not be afraid. In silence, God speaks to you.” (Sayings of the Desert Fathers)
• Tao Te Ching 16: “Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace.”
• Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Question to Ponder: How can silence open the door to God’s presence in your life?

Action to Take: Set aside five minutes of silence today, focusing on the words, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Tuesday Awe: The Stillness of the Soul

• Julian of Norwich: “We need to be emptied of everything that is not God to truly encounter Him.” (Revelations of Divine Love)
• Jean-Pierre de Caussade: “All revelation is born in silence and through silence, God’s will becomes clear.” (The Sacrament of the Present Moment)
• The Cloud of Unknowing: “Learn to be at home in your own company; the path to God lies in the silent contemplation of His love.” (The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 6)
• The Upanishads 2.3.11: “When the five senses are stilled, when the mind is at rest, when the intellect wavers not—that, say the wise, is the highest state.”
• Isaiah 30:15: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”

Question to Ponder: How does quieting your inner world create space for God’s presence?

Action to Take: Go a day without social media or some other distraction you normally engage in.

Wednesday Awe: Contemplation in Solitude

• St. Symeon the New Theologian: “Silence brings the soul closer to the light of divine wisdom.” (Hymns of Divine Love)
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Silence before God is the essence of worship.” (Life Together)
• Rumi: “Silence is the language of God; all else is poor translation.” (The Essential Rumi)
• The Rig Veda 5.81.1: “He who is still in silence, the Self of all, resides within every heart.”
• Mark 1:35: “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.”

Question to Ponder: What role does solitude play in your spiritual life?

Action to Take: Take a walk alone, dedicating the time to silent prayer.

Thursday Awe: Finding Rest in God

• Henri Nouwen: “In solitude, we find the space to let our restless heart be touched by the quiet presence of God.” (The Way of the Heart)
• Isaac of Nineveh: “Love silence above all things, for it brings you near to the fruit of the Spirit.” (Ascetical Homilies)
• Jean-Luc Marion: “God is not a being among beings; He is excess itself, encountered only in our surrender.” (God Without Being)
• Odes of Solomon 8:14-16: “Open your hearts to the exultation of the Lord, and let your love abound from the heart and mouth to Him.”
• Habakkuk 2:20: “But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

Question to Ponder: How does resting in God’s presence change your heart?

Action to Take: Take five minutes today to sit in God’s presence without words, simply resting in His love.

Friday Awe: The Gift of Quiet Contemplation

• Blaise Pascal: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” (Pensées, Section 136)
• Gregory the Great: “In contemplation, the soul is raised up above itself and is held near to the light of truth.” (Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 2.27)
• St. Anthony the Great: “The one who abides in solitude and is quiet has escaped from three wars: hearing, speaking, and seeing. Yet against one thing he must constantly battle: his own heart.” (Sayings of the Desert Fathers)
• William Wordsworth: “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils—in perfect silence.” (I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud)
• Lamentations 3:26: “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Question to Ponder: How does silence help you perceive God’s presence in your daily life?

Action to Take: Reflect on how you can make silence a part of your daily spiritual practice.

Saturday Awe: The Practice of Stillness: Finding God in Silence and Contemplation

• Anthony the Great: “When you sit in silence, do not be afraid. In silence, God speaks to you.” (Sayings of the Desert Fathers)
• The Cloud of Unknowing: “Learn to be at home in your own company; the path to God lies in the silent contemplation of His love.” (The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 6)
• Henri Nouwen: “In solitude, we find the space to let our restless heart be touched by the quiet presence of God.” (The Way of the Heart)
• Blaise Pascal: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” (Pensées, Section 136)
• Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Question to Ponder: What am I afraid of that keeps me from being still?

Action to Take: Turn your phone off for an hour or two or a day and see how you feel.