The Art of Silence

Our family is a talkative family. So when one of our children, as a youngster, didn't speak in the morning unless spoken to first, Terry took notice...

(I was totally unaware, no doubt happy to have one less person competing to be heard.)

Nowadays with fewer people in the house, it is often quiet. And I have been reading about the "art of silence" (which is more than simply the absence of noise):

"Traditional societies... have always known the importance of silence... The Christian aboriginal [Australian] artist, Miriam-Rose Ungummer, calls it tapping into a deep spring that is within us all..."

She writes:

"My people are not threatened by silence.
They are completely at home with it...

I can find peace in this silent awareness.
There is no need of words.
There is no need to reflect too much
and do a lot of thinking.
It is just being aware.
Our aboriginal culture has taught us to be still and to wait."

(Lost in Wonder, pp. 43-44)