Posted: October 7, 2023   •   Posted in: Faith, Reflections

In praise of silence

Quakers meet regularly for silent worship. According to the Quakers in Britain website, silent worship is about developing a sense of connection, “…with those around us, with our deepest selves, or perhaps with God“.

My experience is that such connections are more easily made when the mind is silent, or at least calm, and that thinking can be a distraction.

As Quaker George Fox wrote in 1658, “Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit from thy own thoughts…” (Quaker faith & practice 2.18)

And as Quaker William Penn wrote in 1699, “Love silence, even in the mind… True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.”  (Quaker faith & practice 20.11)

I also practice Advaita Vedanta, and in that tradition connecting with our deepest selves is the same as connecting with “God”, the underlying reality of Brahman. The practice I do is called self-enquiry, looking deeply within, and connecting with a great stillness or presence, something timeless and unchanging.  Something beneath the mind, and beneath the personal.

This is perhaps similar to the Quaker idea that there is “that of God” in everyone.

Spending silent time with others is also revealing. Before experiencing the silence of Quaker worship, I spent a lot of time on silent retreat as a Buddhist, and experienced a deeper awareness and appreciation of people while in silence. Conversation becomes less important when you’re really mindful of the people around you.

So silence is a wonderful thing. It’s both a gateway to deeper connection, and a way of describing that connection.

And in the deeper sense, silence isn’t merely an absence, it is also a fullness and a presence.

Martin (Beccles Quaker Meeting)