Monday October 21, 2013
Silence and Silences
I have been reading and studying Robert Sardello's book entitled "Silence-The Mystery of Wholeness". Sardello and Cheryl Sanders-Sardello's insights about Silence are indelible. I can tell that I might be getting it, (might) when I think many times a day and at night about what I have read.
He always capitalizes the word 'silence' as Silence. And, I think that this is for a very important reason. He wants us to understand spiritual-soul Silence in ourselves and in the world.
Yes, there is a Silence that is the absence of sound, or better yet, the types of sounds that we encounter all day and night long. You know what I mean, cell phones, beeps, loud talking, TV, and interruptions of all kinds. Getting to a place where there is very little or no sound (if almost no sound is possible) is a good starting point. I do not exist in sound of the aggressive, mechanical, hysterical kind in modern life when I am in my tiny cabin in El Porvenir at about 7,000 feet, in the red-pink glowing granite of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. Ocassionally a pine needle will drop onto the cabin roof and make a very delicate tap, ( a reminder of our existence) as if it is another presence. I can hear this pine needle sound because in the darkness of the night my ears and Soul have been attuned to the ambiant trees, plants, and animals in the forest where my cabina sits. Of course the raccoons and bears are a bit more brash, but they are comforting as well. Yet, this type of Silence is only a good starting point as Sardello suggests.
From early childhood I have always experienced the Silence of living things, especially the presences of plants, even of particles and objects. Yes, particles as in particles of glittering beach sand in a faomy ocean surf. When I encounter soul presences of plants I experience them as Silences, by which I mean that I feel a blending of myself and the plant or tree or animal that includes my own spirit or soul, in addition to a third kind of presence that is eternal. This is not emotion but a feeling which is a knowing This is the only way that I can explain or talk about this melding or blending, and I know that I am almost failing. If I wrote a poem about this state of Silence perhaps it would be different and more evident. Sardello in his succinct prose and Cheryl Sanders-Sardello in her beautiful prose poems at the end of every chapter say more clearly what I am trying to say. You would have to read their work yourself, I think.
I suppose that the other times I encounter this third presence of Silence is when I really experience the soul presence or being of another person. Most people are too into themselves to allow you to do this, (they don't want you inside) but the very young, the very old, and those of open, sharing honesty often will allow entry. These are whole People of Feeling. Another time during which I experience true spiritual Silence is when I am in the act of creating or making something--I don't even know that I am creating--I simply AM. There is Silence and timelessness. I suppose that early man, Homo Ergaster, felt the same way when he flaked stone points.
Of course, the gardening moment is the act of Silence. That is why so many artists, muscians, and poets love gardening. I am reminded of the wonderful American poet Stanley Kunitz who lived to be almost 100. He adored gardening or whatever one chooses to call a passionate caring for being in the presence of plants. And please consider, I don't mean that sentimental new age talking to plants. And then, there is W. S. Merwin who says that he cannot conceive of writing one line of poetry without being in the presence of plants. I heard him say this on the Lehrer Newshour as interviewed by Jeffrey Brown.
So, as the Sardellos say, at oneness with the Silence, true inward Silence of our being and the being of nature, evokes a third deep, healing, almost inexpressable Presence in Silence, and that is why there are artists of every kind--painters, sculptors, potters, writers, poets, dancers, you name them--they are countless, even people of all kinds, and yes, gardeners.
I do hope that I have expressed the insights of the Sardellos with accuracy and honesty. Please read "Silence" for yourselves. For me, Silence in the sense that I perceive it is a great gift.
Crown of Stars
Two nights ago I walked outside my cabin into darkness
it was all so still and quiet
I looked upward into the ancient tall ponderosa pines
way up at the tops as I almost bent over backwards
their tops forming a circle in the forest fastness
a deep crown filled with stars
stars that looked like bright white flecks of light
floating yet falling to earth
balanced brilliant and burning
energies of envigoration to all the earth
the white hot spears penetrated earth
and all its creatures-plants animals and mankind
St. Michael's Night
29 September 2013
