Classroom of Silence
One of the people I heard mentioned on my recent retreat was Mathew Kelly. So, of course I Googled for him at my first chance today. The first result I looked at is an article he wrote called Classroom of Silence. I work in a profession that’s all about noise and I do mean audio. We produce a lot of it for online agricultural communications. I attend a lot of conferences where all you do all day long is talk to people and hear lots of noise. I like my music-filled iPod but I have to take time every day to just sit in silence and this article struck a personal note with me so I thought I’d share it with you. Here’s an excerpt:
Silence presents both sides of the Christian challenge. Firstly, silence introduces us to ourselves – our faults, failings, flaws, defects, talents, abilities, and potential. And secondly, silence introduces us to God – greatness, fidelity, and perfection. It is these two discoveries together – self and God – that propose the Christian challenge. Seeing ourselves as we are, and God as He is, we are always challenged to change, to grow, and to become more like God.
Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher, scientist, mathematician, and writer of the seventeenth century wrote, “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”
How can we examine our conscience when there’s too much noise? Kind of difficult if you ask me. So, many people I work with might be surprised but this makes perfect sense to me and I highly recommend it. Silence that is.