19 April 2019

Creating Silence

While sorting some donated books for the library earlier, I was reflecting on the owner whom I have not personally met, he left this world more than two years ago, he was a known music teacher and a musician in a university. The books, as expected are mostly music related, there were  DIY's, textbooks and spiritual literature.  The music teacher has a rich collection of books and about a hundred of them were donated by a friend who owns a cafe. Prior to the cafe, it was the music teacher's home. Going through those books on a warm afternoon instead of having siesta and the familiar Holy Thursday feels, it was like an instant recollection. As I see it, recollection is when one ceases a bit, looks at what has been and check how things are going and resolves to act on what needs to be done. This leads to the fruit of recollection. And similarly as with plants, they grow and bear fruit. There's one element which can be observed in both recollection and growing plants. Yes, it's silence. Today's world offers a lot, name it, the world has it. Today's world has also made life cacophonous, making us forget the greater things. Distractions have made us distant to what really matters. We need silence more than ever. As the contemplatives would put it, "silence creates space for what is spiritual". Creating silence is not hollow or meaningless, it is creating space for what comprises life itself.
Some things will remain, will never grow trite and will come handy in times when we need it most.
Let's create silence. Let's listen more often. Let's create space for what truly matters