%% #📓 #📚 #🔴 %% **Title:** Silence: The Mystery of Wholeness **Author:** [[Robert Sardello]] **Citation:** Sardello, R. (2008). *Silence: The mystery of wholeness.* Goldenstone Press. https://amzn.to/398AExB --- # ~ 3 Sentence Summary ## Key Takeaways # Notes & Important Ideas ### INTRODUCTION > [! abstract] Introduction Summary > Sardello encourages us to go deep within ourselves and practice entering into Silence to better ourselves and to serve others. ##### Must be able to differentiate in order to understand and embrace [[holding the tension of opposites]]. - He argues that Silence allows us to live a life of service to that which is greater than ourselves, while at the some time creating the space for us to know and improve our own self. ##### If we push past our comfort zone, go deep into the unknown, it can foster spiritual transformation. - Sardello asserts that Silence generates the experience of the Divine and calls us to transcend ourselves. - Holy Silence calls us to bring our entire authentic self - including all our experiences and perceptions - through the sacred deep within our body and heart for the good of the world. > [!quote] Introduction, para 15 > words do not evoke images but become like images, in that we can experience the very words themselves as if they were spreading out into space, like the formation of crystals on a window in winter. ([Location 197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=197)) TEL:: Edith Stein TEL:: phenomenology ### PROLOGUE ##### What is Silence? - [[Silence]] is like the [[Tao]]. - Silence is a critical component of the Soul. ##### Purpose of book - Important to not just rely on what others have written about silence, but to discover inner truths for ourselves. - One can verify what Sardello writes about the inner life by doing the inner work. - Important to not just learn about Silence, but to practice entering into it. - Practices that help in experiencing silence are not just technical instructions, but way of behaving that invites Silence into our lives and orients us to be in service to the spiritual worlds. - Distinguishes difference between [[practice]], [[exercise]], and [[technique]]. TEL:: Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy ### CHAPTER 1 A Meditation on Silence > [! abstract] Chapter 1 Summary > - Sardello suggests we are uncomfortable with [[Silence]] because it reminds us that we've neglected the core of our being. - ["] both palpably something and seemingly nothing. ([Location 329](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=329)) - In Taoism empty space is "not simply nothing, it is the potential for everything. Space leaves openness to be filled." [[Simple Taoism - Simpkins 1999]] - ["] resonates ([Location 332](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=332)) #['blue'] - ["] Silence bears the wholeness ([Location 336](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=336)) #['blue'] - Silence is what connects on soul and the universe. Reminds we of [[Parker Palmer]]'s idea of living an undivided life on the Mobius strip. - ["] healing power of Silence can be found in nature, ([Location 346](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=346)) #['blue'] - Don't have to go into Nature to find the healing power of Silence, for it is present everywhere. - ["] freedom and a capacity to be ourselves again. ([Location 353](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=353)) #['blue'] - Silence gives us the capacity te reflect and reconnect with ourselves. - ["] by-products of Silence and not reasons for becoming intrigued with it. ([Location 356](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=356)) #['blue'] - Seeking Silence is all about the process, not the results. - ["] In meditation we run into it at the moment when our interior becomes a vast exterior, and we no longer know if we are inside or outside. ([Location 381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=381)) - ["] In our ordinary sensing, perceiving, and thinking, everything around us exists as “outside” and “over there.” We are spectators to ourselves and to the world. But in Silence everything displays its depth, and we find that we are part of the depth of everything around us. ([Location 391](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=391)) - ["] separation between ourselves and the world we have adopted is illusion. ([Location 393](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=393)) #['blue'] - Just like Siddhartha's revelation. - ["] Instead of perceiving things held apart from other things in sharp and heavy outline, as is usual, we enter into a feeling-perception of the interior space around us that gives birth to all things. ([Location 399](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=399)) #['blue'] - When we're in Silence we don't just perceive, we enter into a [[feeling-perception]] of inner space that connects us to everything around us. - ["] We can learn, however, to cultivate the feeling of resonance so that it becomes an indicator that lets us know when we are near the gateway to the interior world of Silence. ([Location 405](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=405)) #['blue'] - When we return to normal sensing we feel Silence as a [[resonance]]. If we cultivate the feeling of resonance we can better recognize when we are close to Silence. - ["] sympathetic resonance: when a bell sounds and continues to resonate, another object with qualities of the same pitch as the bell begins to vibrate with it. ([Location 408](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=408)) #['blue'] - [[sympathetic resonance]] = when a bell sounds and continues to resonate, another object with qualities of the same pitch as the bell begins to vibrate with it - ["] our soul connection with Silence is a form of sympathetic resonance, ([Location 410](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=410)) #['blue'] - Our soul if connected to Silence through [[sympathetic resonance]] or, more accurately, [[empathetic resonance]]. - ["] empathetic resonance, the resonance of the individual soul coming into resonance with the Soul of the World. ([Location 415](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=415)) #['blue'] - [[empathetic resonance]] = the resonance of the individual soul coming into resonance with the Soul of the World. - ["] mental knowing into perceiving presence, ([Location 424](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=424)) #['blue'] - Difference between mental knowing and perceiving presence. - ["] We do not enter into loneliness or isolation but into the deepest feeling of communing. ([Location 434](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=434)) - Silence isn't about solitude or isolation ; it's about communion. Don't feel alone in Silence. Like Parker Palmer's idea of solitude and community. - ["] The Silence of high, rocky mountains can be felt as an immensity of Silence that contacts us in such a way that we feel ourselves as one with its immensity, its immovability, and its vastness. In such moments, these spiritual qualities are alive and animated. A dense forest has another kind of Silence. It’s darker, deeper, and more inward; we feel our experience much more from within our body. ([Location 444](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=444)) - Everything has its own quality of Silence. ### CHAPTER 2 The Guardians of Silence - ["] Silence is the bountiful source of our sensing our self and all creation with newfound clarity and intimacy. ([Location 468](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=468)) #['blue'] - Silence is how we sense our self and the would around us with clarity and intimacy. - ["] It thoroughly changes us. ([Location 473](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=473)) #['blue'] - Silence transforms us. - ["] There are two ways we can look at the many distracting forces that keep us from Silence. ([Location 475](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=475)) #['blue'] - Forcer that distract us from Silence can be seen as things that trap us in our own egotism, or as things protecting us from entering Silence before we've done theproper and necessary inner work. - ["] Until we develop an inner discipline within our soul, we feel rebuffed, turned away, and cast aside when we try to enter the Silence in a conscious way and go deeply into it. ([Location 481](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=481)) - ["] However, there is much more to this realm than the rippling after-image of feeling “whole,” a feeling we mistake for the essence of the experience. ([Location 485](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=485)) #['blue'] - More to experience of Silence than just a feeling of being whole. Also involves feeling connection to everything in the universe. - ["] Our soul is not to be regarded as a higher—as distinct from a lower—self but as a vibrating link through which our human personality perceives the influences exerted by the cosmos. ([Location 487](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=487)) - ["] We must approach Silence in the right way and with the right attitude, ([Location 525](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=525)) #['blue'] - Shouldn't approach Silence with expectation of all it's benefits, but with attitude of attention and honor for the sacredness of it. A different kind of knowing. - ["] Silence does not take us out of the noisy world; ([Location 562](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=562)) - ["] They may be present so that we can develop the inner strength of concentration needed to keep our focus on the spiritual worlds. ([Location 570](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=570)) #['blue'] - As we enter Silence and encounter negative feelings like anxiety, fear, stupid thoughts and impulses, they can help us develop the "inner strength of concentration needed to keep our focus on the spiritual worlds." We only build this capacity when we seek Silence in the midst of the noisy world, not by searching it out in nature. - ["] When we are in Silence, our body—unlike our emotions—undergoes the resonating effects of moving currents that we feel everywhere and deeply. ([Location 598](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=598)) - ["] It is important that we are able to discern the difference between this kind of feeling and an emotional reaction to the presence of Silence. ([Location 601](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=601)) ### CHAPTER 3 Entering the Silence - ["] Silence is experienced bodily. We sense the presence of Silence and, after being with Silence over a period of time, we find distinct changes in our body that contribute to our capacity to enter and stay within the Silence. ([Location 675](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=675)) - ["] Thus we do not make the practice of Silence exclusively into a soul work and go inward, nor exclusively a spiritual work to attain some goal on a spiritual path. The work is to be with Silence itself, and in so doing we are one with soul, spirit, body, and world. ([Location 681](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=681)) #['blue'] - Practice of Silence is working to live what [[Parker Palmer]] refers to as an [[undivided life]]. - ["] This experience is not one of a stronger acuity of the senses but rather of a sensing pervaded with the holiness of the world. ([Location 703](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=703)) - ["] We feel the presence of Silence throughout the physical world as a kind of touch, like that of a warm breeze on the skin on a fall day. ([Location 709](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=709)) - ["] Being a whole person means we experience what it is like to be body, soul, and spirit as one. ([Location 714](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=714)) - ["] The most basic experience of Silence is intimacy. We feel an intimacy with the world, as if we are within everything around us rather than behind or alongside things that we are then looking at. ([Location 723](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=723)) - ["] We know who we are in a completely non-self-conscious way. We feel how we, in our individuality, are part of a vast and mysterious world process. ([Location 725](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=725)) #['blue'] - We know our true self and feel part of the vast mystery of life. - ["] Silence is a work as well as a phenomenon. ([Location 738](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=738)) - ["] For the touch of Silence does not stay with us. There is too much within us that overpowers that initial touch. ([Location 739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=739)) - ["] begin to enter Silence through meditation, ([Location 756](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=756)) #['blue'] - If we try to find silence through meditation to achieve a spiritual goal, we'll miss the depths of Silence. - ["] Each day at an appointed time, go to a quiet place, a room where you will not be disturbed. Sit in a comfortable chair, both feet firmly on the floor, body perfectly relaxed, and as near as possible do not think of anything. ([Location 758](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=758)) #['blue'] - > [! exercise] > 1. Each day at an appointed time, go to a quiet place, a room where you will not be disturbed. 2. Sit in a comfortable chair, both feet firmly on the floor, body perfectly relaxed, and as near as possible do not think of anything. 3. Try to do it in the same place, at the same time, and for the same duration every day. - ["] when body tension exists you will find that you cannot be receptive to the Silence. ([Location 760](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=760)) #['blue'] - Can't be receptive to Silence when you have tension in your body. - ["] This practice is to be done in the same place, at the same appointed time each day, and if possible, for the same length of time each day. ([Location 761](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=761)) #['blue'] - Rhythm is important - ["] The position is one of alertness. ([Location 773](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=773)) #['blue'] - The goal is to be alert. - ["] The whole nature of the currents of Silence is that of the presence of an interiority. ([Location 779](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=779)) - ["] That is, to be fully present to this experience, we have to be inside ourselves and outside ourselves at the same time. ([Location 796](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=796)) - ["] It is important, however, not to go looking for these various currents. ([Location 829](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=829)) #['blue'] - The harder we try to find thhe currents of Silence the more evasive they will become. ### CHAPTER 4 Relating within Silence - ["] Relationships, then, give us an additional way to access and get to know the ways of this vast interiority of Silence. ([Location 866](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=866)) #['blue'] - Relationships are another way to access and experience Silence. - ["] A first entry into the Silence between ourselves and others is to appreciate the pause, the stumbling, the inarticulateness, the gaps, and the searching that accompany speaking. ([Location 886](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=886)) #['blue'] - The first step in finding Silence in relationships is to appreciate the pauses and inarticulate gaps that occur when speaking. - ["] Listening is required for the soul of speech to live, a listening that does not come only before and after we speak but within our speaking itself. ([Location 889](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=889)) #['blue'] - We have to listen, not only before and after we speak,but also while we are speaking. - ["] If we practice this little meditative exercise—varying the pauses in a sentence—for five minutes daily over several months, we begin to feel the sense of rhythm within our body. ([Location 913](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=913)) #['blue'] - > [! exercise] > Vary the pauses in a sentence—for five minutes daily over several months. > Ex: I enter the silence. I enter the silence. I enter the silence. - ["] Entering Silence ([Location 918](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=918)) #['blue'] - Can enter Silence through: 1. Being in nature 2. Meditation 3. Participatory speaking - speaking with others - ["] The meeting of our heart centers creates a space for a holy third, and all three together form the center of a larger, more encompassing heart center. ([Location 926](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=926)) #['blue'] - When our heart meets with another's in relationship, the meeting creates space for the living presence of Silence. We experience a soul connection that gives us a feeling of fullness. - ["] We experience it as an inner bodily joy and absence of strain, and we feel an immediate presence, a flow of subtle currents between our self and the other person. ([Location 932](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=932)) - ["] paying attention is merely the best entry point into this form of relating. ([Location 935](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=935)) #['blue'] - This soul connection requires more then just paying attention to the way we speak to one another, although that's a start. - ["] We feel that something is going on in the relationship, and even though it may be intimate and full of love, it tears apart who we thought we were, then puts us together in a new form. ([Location 958](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=958)) #['blue'] - When we choose to enter into Silence in a relationship, "even though it may be intimate and full of love, it tears apart who we thought we were, then puts us together in a new form." - ["] Now, when we do see the beauty, we also see that it radiates into the world, adding spiritual strength to the world. Silence has allowed us to see what otherwise cannot be seen. ([Location 968](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=968)) ### CHAPTER 5 The Healing Power of Silence - ["] Silence is self-healing. ([Location 1013](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1013)) - ["] Instead, the healing currents of Silence are intrinsic to Silence itself, integral to its very nature. ([Location 1017](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1017)) - ["] when we have entered into the Silence, our ordinary ego-consciousness recedes into the background, and a different kind of consciousness comes forward, one best called attention. ([Location 1025](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1025)) #['blue'] - Once we're comfortable bring in Silence, we can direct our consciousness. We may notice a presence within the Silence that is a more refined version of our self - sometimes called the witness. - ["] Silence is not emptiness but an alert unfocusing focus on subtle rhythms that join our interiority to the natural world. ([Location 1028](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1028)) - Add to definition of Silence - ["] Witness-consciousness, which is our own attention in the Silence, both observes and participates at the same time. ([Location 1039](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1039)) #['blue'] - Our witness-consciousness both observes and participates at the same time. - ["] when we enter into the Silence and let our attention center on the interior of the body, we can feel the flow of Silence fill out the inner form of our body. As it does so, we become present to what can be described and termed the invisible body of Silence. ([Location 1053](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1053)) #['blue'] - When we enter Silence and focus our attention on the interior of the body, we can feel Silence fill our body and it feels as if it's transparent. - ["] shift our attention in Silence to the outer form of our body. When we do this, we do not feel Silence “cling” to the outer form; instead, we feel Silence extend outward without boundary. ([Location 1058](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1058)) #['blue'] - We can also focus on the exterior of our body and feel Silence extend outward infinitely. Not out-of-body feeling - ["] simple exercise of moving the attention of Silence ([Location 1064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1064)) #['blue'] - > [! exercise] > Practice moving attention of Silence from interior to exterior and back. - ["] currents of healing happening. ([Location 1069](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1069)) #['blue'] - If you can hold inner Silence and outer Silence together, you begin to feel currents of healing. - Our body feels just right - we feel the presence of bodily joy. - We feel as if we are being held by a tender, loving, invisible presence. - ["] When we feel the pull of the future from within Silence, we experience an orientation toward action within a field of openness in which we, in our spirit, are open to the harmonies of the universe. ([Location 1123](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004ZZKU9C&location=1123)) # Connections to Other Materials # Personal Reflection & Application --- # Other References ## Tags