Interior silence

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Close your eyes, try to think of nothing for a few moments…

What are you thinking about? Unless you are an experienced contemplative, there are many thoughts going through your mind on different levels. Perhaps something you have to do, some conversation you had, some issue that is pressing on you, or simply random thoughts are prevalent in your mind. Interior silence is the skill that allows us to focus on God in prayer, or in non-spiritual cases to relax or focus on a certain task, without the disruption of spiritual and mental confusions.

Unlike what most people perceive interior silence to be… interior silence does not require “closing out” our surroundings… for instance it does not require that we be in utter silence and sit still with eyes closed. The ability to obtain interior silence, and combating noise within ourselves, includes the ability to focus in the midst of exterior noise as well. The deepest forms of prayer are only reached in times of interior silence.

I recently wrote an article about Eliminating Interior Noise During Prayer which speaks in depth about interior silence. I invite you to visit my blog and read it.

God Bless,
Sadie
 
Thank you. Is it correct to say that during interior silence we pray without words by being aware of God’s presence? Sometimes in the day instead of praying an aspiration or meditating on a thought, I just hold in my awareness the fact that God is present and think of nothing else. Is this interior silence?
 
JaredR said:
Thank you. Is it correct to say that during interior silence we pray without words by being aware of God’s presence? Sometimes in the day instead of praying an aspiration or meditating on a thought, I just hold in my awareness the fact that God is present and think of nothing else. Is this interior silence?
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Hi Jared -
There may come a point in time in which thoughts, feelings and emotions - which previously provided so much satisfaction in prayer - actually become a hindrance. This is a natural progression in prayer and our proper response at such times is to remain quiet, peaceful, open and receptive. For in this silence you allude to, God begins to comunicate with us “experientially” . . . beyond all thought, words and ideas. He is “tasted” in the secrecy of our hearts . . . but without out any clear understanding on our part. Our prayer is reduced to utmost simplicity . . . nothing more than a simple gaze.

St. John of the Cross describes it thus:
Dark Night 1:
The attitude necessary in the night of sense (the beginning of contemplation) is to pay no attention to discursive meditation, since this is not the time for it. The soul should remain in rest and quietude, even though it may seem obvious to them that they are doing nothing and wasting time…They must be content simply with **a loving and peaceful attentiveness to God **. . .
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The only thing we “do” is to remain at rest, ignore the pull of thoughts etc . . . and pay attention to Him in simple receptivity. In St. John’s teaching we are to make our memory, understanding and will dark and empty . . . the purpose of the active night of spirit. It is only when we shut down our natural way of knowing (ie. meditation) that we can open ourselves up to God’s divine infusion. Think of it as emptying ourselves . . . in order to be filled by God. This is one of St. John’s great images of contemplation . . . our souls as an “empty vessel.”

Here is one of his descriptions . . .
Living Flame of Love:
When the soul frees itself of all things (ie. our thoughts, reflections and meditations) and attains to emptiness…it is impossible that God will fail to do his part by communicating Himself to it, at least silently and secretly
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Why is this so?
Ascent of Mount Carmel:
As soon as natural things are driven out of the enamored soul, the divine are naturally and supernaturally infused since there can be no void in nature.
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So we should be at peace and profoundly grateful when this silence comes upon us . . .
Dark Night:
A person should not mind if the operations of his faculties are being lost to him; he out to desire rather that this be done quickly so that he may be no obstacle to the operation of the infused contemplation which God is bestowing…and make room in his spirit (by encouraging the silence) for the enkindling and burning of love that this dark and secret contemplation bears and communicates to his soul. For contemplation is nothing else than a secret and peaceful and loving inflow of God.
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Expressed another way, a modern day commentator on St. John of the Cross said it so well . . .
The Practice of Contemplation According to John of the Cross:
As long as we had filled our minds with all our rational ideas, images, reasoning and affections, there was no room for a new and infused way of experiencing God. Only when we admit that all our rational efforts can take us no farther, are we willing to let God take over and to be peaceful and attentive in that dark night
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And all this begins with a choice on our part . . . to foster an attitude of interior silence much like you said: “Sometimes in the day instead of praying an aspiration or meditating on a thought, I just hold in my awareness the fact that God is present and think of nothing else.” 🙂

Hope this helps,
Dave:)
 
I saw a program last week that had a really good analogy (Fr. Dubay, perhaps?) He gave us a word picture of a pitcher in a baseball game winding up and getting ready to throw the ball. All the while, the catcher is in a mode of “active” receptance, silent, waiting, attentive, thinking nothing, but being alert to what the pitcher is doing, and quietly watching for his pitch. His receptiveness is very “active” – although quietly doing nothing, he is strongly focused.
 
Sirach2 said:
I saw a program last week that had a really good analogy (Fr. Dubay, perhaps?) He gave us a word picture of a pitcher in a baseball game winding up and getting ready to throw the ball. All the while, the catcher is in a mode of “active” receptance, silent, waiting, attentive, thinking nothing, but being alert to what the pitcher is doing, and quietly watching for his pitch. His receptiveness is very “active” – although quietly doing nothing, he is strongly focused.
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👍

This analogy is from Fr. Dubay’s 13-part series on contemplation, which is available in audio format on ewtn.com. Episode 12 deals with silence, openness, and receptivity, and contains the baseball analogy Sirach2 mentions. You can listen here:

Contemplation with Fr. Thomas Dubay

I’m glad to see Dave’s (name removed by moderator)ut in this thread; interior silence is something he knows a lot about. 🙂
 
It is good also to keep in mind St. John’s famous “three signs” for fostering an attitude of interior silence . . . paraphrased here:
  1. The individual can no longer think and reason on spiritual matters (meditation) as before. It brings no satisfaction for there are no new insights to be found. Dryness and airidity with our former practice is the norm.
  2. The individual has a strong aversion to “concentrate on sensible objects or ideas.” A byproduct of #1, the soul just can not bring itself to entertain thoughts or try to produce affections in the soul.
  3. The individual simply desires to remain alone in loving attention to God . . . without the need for words, ideas, thoughts or affections of the soul.
It is interesting to note St. John describes these three signs twice: as part of the active night of spirit (Books 2 and 3 of The Ascent of Mount Carmel) and the passive night of sense (Book 1 of Dark Night). This active night of spirit and passive night of sense are important stages in our spiritual life . . . and they largely overlap.

The work of the active night of spirit is to maintain constant vigilence over our thoughts and feelings lest we be pulled astray. In the passive night of sense, our only prayerful desire is to remain in the rest and quietude of a non-conceptual, loving attentiveness to God. Can we see how these two nights go hand in hand and how they mutually reinforce each other?

So it is very much like the example Sirach described. Like the catcher responding to the pitcher, we are in a state that is both active and passive at the same time. Active in the sense that “attention” is our only real activity. Passive in the sense our attitude is one of “receptivity” that is much more akin to intuition than the reasoning that dominated our previous meditation.

It is only when this prayer proceeds beyond this type of simplified recollection to actual infused contemplation that prayer becomes entirely passive. In the meantime, we patiently wait out side the door and quietly knock in this active/passive synergy . . . knowing full well He won’t be long in answering so long as we persevere in this way of seeking Him.

Dave:)
 
I was reading this thread yesterday and decided to try to become interiorly silent. Just a word of warning to all… don’t do it at bedtime. :o

I did sleep well though 😊
 
Maybe it’s a matter of words, but I think of “silent prayer” as a practice, but “interior silence” as a gift from God, related to “contemplation” which is also a gift from God.

There are forms of prayer, such as Lectio Divina, that are designed to invite God into our hearts in a very direct way, giving consent to the Holy Spirit by letting go of our normal streams of thought.

Anything that strikes us as interesting, or as good, or as bad, causes us to think about that thing. When one seeks contemplation, one must let go of all such judgments, getting the conscious mind’s limited thinking out of the way so the Divine Therapist (the Holy Spirit) can work.

God is a gentleman. He does not come uninvited. Silent prayer is one way to invite Him.

Interior silence, IMO, is found after the Holy Spirit has done at least work in us, as one of the fruits of the Spirit. (See Gal 5) Once we get our faith to the point where worldly things do not bother us or for that matter excite us disproportionately, it becomes easier to achieve a quiet experience. Calmness and peace abound, as we learn to let go of our value judgments and walk through life’s trials without anxiety caused by all the normal “commotion” going on in our minds. This “silence” transcends what happens in the physical world around us.

The true test of interior silence is not during silent prayer, but in between prayer times. Am I more at peace with the world than I was? Am I learning to forgive and get along with people better? Etc.

Alan
 
Good to see you again, Alan 👍

Seems like it’s been . . . well, eons 🙂

My best to you,
Dave:)
 
beckycmarie said:
Jared,

You might like this thread:

Cultivating an attitude of silence
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JaredR thanks for this thread.
Becky, thanks for bringing back the memory of Cultivating an attitude of silence.
Dave, thanks for that great thread and all the good insights.

I actually took time to re-read Cultivating an attitude of silence.
Reading the discussions from 2007 to 2009, I can now clearly see the passive night God bestowed on me and how I walked . Especially in 2009, God allowed multiple trials - spiritual, emotional and physical. Because of those trials, I came out as a stronger person with many blessings. Worries and anxieties are now better handled, trust is deeper. God is always so good.

Interior silence is a constant and life time homework. Like Alan said, true interior silence is not only to do with prayer but also the way we live.
 
DBT said:
Good to see you again, Alan 👍

Seems like it’s been . . . well, eons 🙂

My best to you,
Dave:)
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Yes, it has been a while. Years, at least. I am glad to be here; it was great to see a thread on “interior silence” right off the bat. 😃

Alan
 
Hi Alan,

Do you mean that lectio divina is a form of silent prayer?
 
JaredR said:
Hi Alan,

Do you mean that lectio divina is a form of silent prayer?
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Partly. It has both active and passive parts. The four steps become progressively more intimate with the Word. The stages are called: Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio.

The first three involve actively meditating or otherwise thinking about a scripture passage. The fourth, contemplatio, is silent – characterized by a simple, loving focus on God. I chose Lectio as the form of discussion because Lectio is not controversial.

Alan
 
centering prayer is a method of interior silence. Coming from the Cloud of Unknowing. In teaching centering prayer Father Thomas Keating talks about rest. Resing in the presence of Spirit. He mentions lectio divinia. He talks about ST Athony of the Desert, St John of the Cross the dark night of the soul. and mentions St Teresa of Avila in his teachings of centering prayer.
 
I don’t think it matters what path we take to the silence because when we are silent God speaks. There is no need to bicker over the method because when we get there, it is silent.
 
Blessed Mother Teresa has a very good examen for those wishing to live a more recollected life. She said this about interior silence:

To make possible true interior silence, we shall practice:

Silence of the eyes, by seeking always the beauty and goodness of God everywhere, closing it to the faults of others and to all that is sinful and disturbing to the soul.
Silence of the ears, by listening always to the voice of God and to the cry of the poor and the needy, closing it to all the other voices that come from the evil one or from fallen human nature, e.g. gossip, tale-bearing and uncharitable words.
Silence of the tongue, by praising God and speaking the life-giving Word of God that is the Truth that enlightens and inspires, brings peace, hope, and joy and by refraining from self-defense and every word that causes darkness, turmoil, pain, and death.
Silence of the mind, by opening it to the truth and knowledge of God in prayer and contemplation, like Mary who ponder the marvel of the Lord in her heart, and by closing it to all untruths, distraction, destructive thoughts, rash judgment, false suspicions of others, revengeful thoughts and desires.
Silence of the heart, by loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and one another as God loves, desiring God alone and by avoiding all selfishness, hatred, envy, jealousy, and greed.

Our silence is a joyful and God-centered silence; it demands of us constant self-denial and plunges us into the deep silence of God where aloneness with God becomes a reality.

I’ve got that written in my journal and read it often. Silence is not simply turning off thoughts. It’s about learning to mortify passions and actions and words so as to have interior recollection and live in the presence of God.
 
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