Soul Café
‘Silence’
“O son of dust! The wise are they that speak not
unless they obtain a hearing, even as the cup-bearer, who proffereth not his
cup till he findeth a seeker, and the lover who crieth not out from the depths
of his heart until he gazeth upon the beauty of his beloved.”
– Baha’u’llah
“Silence is the language of god, all else is poor
translation.”
― Rumi
“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.”
“The sign of the intellect is contemplation and the
sign of contemplation is silence, because it is impossible for a man to do two
things at one time –he cannot both speak and meditate.”
-Abdu’l-Baha
In the attitude of silence the soul finds the
path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into
crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.
~ Gandhi
When you become aware of silence,
immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You
have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.
Eckhart Tolle
Silence is the Sabbath of the soul. Therein we
rest, and therein we hear everything.
Marianne Williamson
“It is an axiomatic fact that while you meditate you are speaking with
your own spirit. In that state of mind you put certain questions to your spirit
and the spirit answers: the light breaks forth and the reality is revealed.”
-Abdu’l-Baha
"It's our job to turn down the noise and
listen to silent symphonies.
Marianne Williamson
Keep
silence, be mute. If you have not yet
become the tongue of God,
be an ear.
Rumi
Silence is the highest eloquence.
Sri Ramana Maharshi
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your
thoughts;
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of
your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half
murdered.
For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of
words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.
There are those among you who seek the talkative
through fear of being alone.
The silence of aloneness reveals to their eyes
their naked selves and they would escape.
And there are those who talk, and without
knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not
understand.
And there are those who have the truth within
them, but they tell it not in words.
In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells
in rhythmic silence.
When you meet your friend on the roadside or in
the market place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.
Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear
of his ear;
For his soul will keep the truth of your heart as
the taste of the wine is remembered
When the colour is forgotten and the vessel is no
more.
Kahlil Gibran
Why
are you so afraid of silence,
silence is the root of everything.
If you spiral
into its void,
a hundred voices will thunder messages you long to hear.
Rumi
“The essence of true safety is
to observe silence, to look at the end of things and to renounce the
world.”
– Baha’u’llah
Silence is painful, but in silence things take form, and we
must wait and watch, In us, in our secret depth, lies the knowing element which
sees and hears that which we do not see nor hear. All our perceptions, all the
things we have done, all that we are today, dwelt once in that knowing, silent
depth, that treasure chamber in the soul. And we are more than we think. We are
more than we know. That which is more than we think and know is always seeking
and adding to itself while we are doing nothing - or think we are doing
nothing. But to be conscious of what is going in our depth is to help it along.
When subconsciousness becomes consciousness, the seeds in our
winter-clad-selves turn to flowers, and the silent life in us sings with all
its might.
Kahlil Gibran
"Bring your mind to noble
silence. Unify your mind in noble silence. Concentrate your mind in noble
silence... Enter into rapture and pleasure born of silence derived of
concentration and awareness that is free from thought and fabrication."
The Buddha
“I have learned silence from the
talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet
strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.”
Meditation is the key for opening the doors of
mysteries.
-Abdu’l-Baha
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
The Proverbs
The quieter you become the more you are able to
hear.
– Rumi
In that state man abstracts himself: in that
state man withdraws himself from all outside objects; in that subjective mood
he is immersed in the ocean of spiritual life and can unfold the secrets of
things-in-themselves. To illustrate this, think of man as endowed with two
kinds of sight; when the power of insight is being used the outward power of
vision does not see.
-Abdu’l-Baha
Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind rest at
peace. The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their
return. They grow and flourish and then return to the source. Returning to the
source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
Lao Tzu
Silence is the first door to
spiritual eminence.
Adi Sankara
I am silence among all
secrets.
– Bhagavad
Gita
So long as the thoughts of an individual are
scattered he will achieve no results, but if his thinking be concentrated on a
single point wonderful will be the fruits thereof… .once the sun shineth upon a
concave mirror, or on a lens that is convex, all its heat will be concentrated
on a single point, and that one point will burn the hottest. Thus is it
necessary to focus one’s thinking on a single point so that it will become an
effective force.”
-Abdu’l-Baha
There is something beyond our mind
which abides in silence within our mind. It is the supreme mystery beyond
thought. Let one's mind and one's subtle body rest upon that and not rest on
anything else.
Maitri Upanishad
He cannot be seen by the
eye, and words cannot reveal Him. He cannot be reached by the senses, or by
austerity or sacred actions. By the grace of wisdom and purity of mind, He can
be seen, indivisible, in the silence of contemplation. This invisible Atman can
be seen by the mind wherein the five senses are resting.
– Atharva
Veda
“Observe silence and
refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smoldering fire, and excess of
speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of
the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but
for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endureth a century.”
- Baha’u’llah
Eckhart Tolle
Place your mind before the mirror of
eternity,
place your soul in the brightness of His glory,
place your heart in
the image of the divine essence
and transform yourself by contemplation
utterly
into the image of His divinity,
that you too may feel what His friends feel as
they taste
the hidden sweetness that God himself has set aside
from the
beginning for those who love Him.
Saint Clare of Assisi
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