Encountering Silence

It's easy to see the connection between silence and spirituality — but how does silence support the quest for justice, for a world that moves beyond racism, sexism, or the other social barriers that divide us?

Anyone familiar with the wisdom and words of the great American preacher and writer, Howard Thurman, knows that the silence of contemplation and the silence that empowers the struggle for justice is, in fact, one silence.

God is always speaking, Spirit is always speaking to us. And we can only hear that in the silence. I think that’s a very difficult concept for people to understand because they think of hearing things as in words. But we can connect to things that are beyond words. — Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD

Our guest this week is Professor Lerita Coleman Brown, professor emerita of psychology at Agnes Scott College and self-described "devotee" of Howard Thurman. A natural contemplative who recognized the importance of silence while still a child, Professor Brown's remarkable life as a distinguished scholar, heart and kidney transplant recipient, and spiritual director, has been shaped not only by her longstanding commitment to a interior growth and the love of quiet, but also by her own experience as woman of color. Like Thurman, she recognizes that silence and contemplation are not only essential practices for a meaningful spiritual life, but are also profound gifts to a truly effective and life-affirming struggle for nonviolent, sustainable social change.

Our conversation explores a wide range of silence-related topics, from Professor Brown's childhood (encountering silence in the Santa Ana winds) to her first exploration of meditation in college, finding the value of silence in the midst of an academic career, the power of stillness even in the midst of a hospital stay, ultimately leading to her discovery of the towering genius of Howard Thurman, mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. and one of the most important (if under-appreciated) contemplatives of the twentieth century.

I think that there are so many opportunities for silence that we often don’t take because we’re in our heads chattering about why we are uncomfortable about being in the situation we’re in. — Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD

An important chapter of Dr. Brown's story is her journey with heart disease which led to receiving a heart transplant in her early 40s. The process of her discernment to receive the transplant (along with a key career decision she had made years earlier) all point to how the power of silence literally saved her life.

Discovering Thurman while in formation as a spiritual director, Dr. Brown recognized one of the great (if under-appreciated) contemplatives of the twentieth century: grandson of a slave, child of the Jim Crow south, who went on to become a distinguished Baptist preacher, writer, speaker, and of course, inspiration to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and other key figures in the Civil Rights movement. But at the heart of Thurman's genius was his deep and lasting commitment to silence, where he recognized we find eternity and, indeed, the presence of the living God.

But silence not only reveals God to us, but also reveals what Thurman calls the "inner authority" — that place within each of our hearts, where we discover who we are created to be, the strength and purpose that enables us to live the lives we are called to live — and, just possibly, to change the world in the meantime.

And I tell people all the time that ‘listen’ and ‘silent’ are the exact same letters just rearranged. So you cannot listen if you’re not silent, they’re just connected. — Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

Sherry Bryant-Johnson (ed.), Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color

Professor Lerita Coleman Brown describes Howard Thurman's rich and deeply silent spirituality.

What role does silence play in human conflicts? This question recognizes that silence may have a positive role to play — in helping to prevent or resolve conflicts — but that it could also have a negative role to play, as one one or more parties to a conflict use silence as a "weapon" to prevent reconciliation.

“When silence is done 'right,' silence can disarm us. Emotionally, physically, disarm us. It strips us of our ego. It takes us to that sacred center and allows us to try to learn how to love.” — Cassidy Hall

This week Kevin, Cassidy and Carl reflect on how we have experienced silence in conflict, in both creative and challenging ways.

From the old activist slogan "Silence = Death" to Audre Lorde's challenging declaration "your silence will not protect you," we examine how conflict reveals the different ways that we think about, or talk about, or use silence, especially when engaged in a struggle with another person or group.

“If the silence is being used to punish… then that’s not really silence in the way I talk about encounter or beholding, that’s actually noise. Using silence as a word, as a ‘No’ to someone as opposed to the other silence which is an absolute ‘Yes.’”— Kevin Michael Johnson

Should there be two words for silence? Is the "silence" that dominates or obstructs reconciliation really a type of psychic or spiritual "noise"?

We look at how silence can sometimes provide a "buffer" in the midst of an escalating family conflict, or how extreme emotions seem to propel us to a place of silence — where, by grace, we might regain our center and thereby begin the process of reconciliation, or at least recognize that beneath the feelings of conflict (anger, and rage) might lurk even more unsettling feelings such as fear.

“Silence is a democratic material. It allows everybody to have equal platform and equal voice, because if nobody’s talking, nobody is dominating.” — Helen Lees

What is the relationship between silence and listening? Can silence invite us into a place where, separated by conflict, we can learn to be together again? If politics is about power, how does silence invite us into vulnerability? What is the relationship between silence and the stories we tell, to foster relationship and reconciliation? These, and other questions, shape our conversation and exploration in this episode.

“Silence has something really creative to offer into a conflict situation. Whether it’s creating the space to listen, creating the space to cool-down or calm down, creating the space where we can invite all parties into a vulnerability.” — Carl McColman

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

Audre Lorde, Your Silence Will Not Protect You

Patrick Shen (dir.), In Pursuit of Silence

Maggie Ross, Silence, Volume II: Application

Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land

Helen Lees, Silence in Schools

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

Episode 8: Silence in Conflict

Hosted by: Carl McColman

With: Cassidy Hall and Kevin Johnson

Date Recorded: November 14, 2017

“If you do not understand my silence, you will not understand my words.” — Anonymous

To be human is to sometimes be in conflict. Silence's relationship with conflict is multifaceted.

With this episode, Encountering Silence features our first conversation with a special guest — Patrick Shen, the director of the luminous and thought-provoking documentary film In Pursuit of Silence, which he describes as "a meditative exploration of our relationship with silence and the impact of noise on our lives."

Incidentally, the three hosts of Encountering Silence first met each other through Maggie Ross as a result of her being interviewed for this film, so it's fair to say that the film is the raison d'être for this podcast.

I'm just not that interested in making films anymore that add more to the noise. I'm interested in making films that point to this realm beyond the words, beyond the imagery. — Patrick Shen

Patrick shares with us how he came to be inspired to create his movie, the unlikely role that heavy metal music played in his early life (helping push him to an appreciation of silence!), to the "existential curiosity" that propelled his creativity as a filmmaker.

Our conversation explores the relationship between silence and death, the tension between the spirituality of the creative search and the work the creative process itself; how his relationship with silence is changing the way he works, and much more.

We all get this idea that silence is this magical sort of space, this magical material; and we want it to be infused in our daily life, we want it to be infused with every breath that we take and every moment of our day, and so I've become really fascinated with this idea of work evolving from that place, rather than the work imitating or being a representation of that engagement. — Patrick Shen

Patrick Shen's award-winning films, including Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality, The Philosopher Kings, and La Source, have been screened at over a hundred and twenty film festivals across the globe and broadcast in over twenty-five territories. He was the recipient of the 2009 Emerging Cinematic Vision Award from Camden International Film Festival. Since 2012 Patrick has been lecturing and teaching filmmaking workshops all over the globe as a film envoy for the U.S. State Department and the USC School of Cinematic Arts for their American Film Showcase. His latest film In Pursuit of Silence premiered to sold-out audiences in November 2015 at the Copenhagen International Film Festival. A companion book to the film, Notes from Silence, will be released in February 2018.

Find Patrick Shen online at www.patrickshen.com or

www.transcendentalmedia.com.

 

A lot of us when we step into silence, at least initially, find our narratives or identity stripped away, and it's a lot like a little death of sorts, and it's terrifying. — Patrick Shen

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

Patrick Shen, dir., Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality

Patrick Shen, dir., The Philosopher Kings

Patrick Shen, dir.,  La Source

Patrick Shen, dir., In Pursuit of Silence

Philip Gröning, dir., Into Great Silence

John Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings

Nathaniel Dorsky, Devotional Cinema

Megadeath, Greatest Hits

Metallica, Metallica

Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

Kathleen Dowling Singh, The Grace in Dying

Patrick Shen and Cassidy Hall, Notes from Silence

Max Picard, The World of Silence

Catherine Doherty, Poustinia

Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings

Monica Furlong, Contemplating Now

Rumi, The Essential Rumi

Maggie Ross, Writing the Icon of the Heart

Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

Episode 7: Creating in Silence: A Conversation with Patrick Shen

Hosted by: Cassidy Hall

Our first conversation with a special guest! Joining us is Patrick Shen, the director of "In Pursuit of Silence."

Who are your "silence heroes" — persons, living or dead, famous or obscure, who inspired or mentored or otherwise encouraged your encounter, and/or ongoing relationship, with silence? This is the question that the three co-hosts of this podcast explore in this episode. Cassidy, Carl and Kevin talk about the spiritual leaders, mystics, poets, writers, and other key figures who have helped us to "meet" silence more fully in our lives.

When you really meet silence, when you really encounter silence, it reminds you that you're good enough, as is — whatever you're doing, whoever you are, it reminds you that you're good enough, because it is a place of love, it is a place of self-encounter, it is a place of the encounter of the Divine, of God. — Cassidy Hall

We talk about how our silence heroes inspire us — how they encourage us to love, to embrace nature, to write and enjoy poetry, to be sacred nonconformists, to preserve stillness,  teach us how to talk about silence (or how to be silent with silence!), give us both theoretical and practical approaches to silence — all the while using their lyrical and poetic voices to encourage us to be, likewise, the "poets of our own lives" — lives in which silence "allows our own selves to actually come forward and speak."

We are all poets of our own lives and silence allows our own selves to actually come forward and speak. — Kevin Johnson

Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:

Thomas Merton, Day of a Stranger

Mary Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems

Sara Maitland, A Book of Silence

Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land

Elias Marechal, Tears of an Innocent God

Maggie Ross, Silence, Volume 1: Process

Maggie Ross, Silence, Volume 2: Application

Maggie Ross, Seasons of Death and Life: A Wilderness Memoir

Rowan Williams, Silence and Honey Cakes

Desert Fathers and Mothers, The Wisdom of the Desert (edited by Thomas Merton)

Thomas Merton, Love and Living

Walt Whitman, The Complete Poems

Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be

Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable

Thomas Merton, The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton

J. K. Rowling, The Harry Potter Collection

At one point Carl mentions Martin Thornton when he's actually talking about Martin Laird, so in all fairness to his Freudian slip, here's a book worth reading from that author:

Martin Thornton, Christian Proficiency

Silence is the tomb of Christ —  a place of infinite possibility.

— A Monk of New Melleray Abbey

Kevin Johnson is a university professor, writer, speaker, and retreat leader based in Connecticut.

Cassidy Hall is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker based in Los Angeles.

Carl McColman is an author, catechist, and retreat leader based in Atlanta.

For language to be sane, it needs to be suffused with silence; and for silence to be accessible, it needs to be held in language... to be a human being who wishes to enter deeply into the cave of silence, our sherpa will be language. — Carl McColman

Episode 6: Our Silence Heroes

Hosted by: Kevin Johnson

With: Cassidy Hall and Carl McColman

Date Recorded: November 13, 2017

Kevin, Cassidy and Carl talk about the people who have inspired us with their relationship to silence.

What does it mean to encounter silence in the midst of our most intimate relationships? Unless you are an absolute hermit, other people factor in your life. From children and spouses, to nephews and neighbors, co-workers and companions, to be human is to be in relationship — and sometimes, relationships can be noisy places indeed.

In this episode we explore some paradoxical approaches to silence — for example, Kevin speaks eloquently of finding the silence even in the midst of a baby's cry. He goes on to compare the challenges of balancing one's own needs with the needs of loved ones to the dance of attention in a meditation practice — between awareness of silence and the inevitable irruption of distracting thoughts.

Keep the silence and stillness within. Because it's always there, right? It's always there. If you've met it once, if you've met it twice, if you've met it every day of your life, you know it's there, it's within. — Cassidy Hall

But there's also the "inner relationship" — how we relate to our own self. Carl muses on how sometimes anxiety and depression come to call — and can make it challenging to remember that silence is always, already there.

In all our relationships — whether internal or external — silence calls us out of a place of self-focus into a place where we can be concerned with loving others — or welcoming whatever arises in the context of our lives. Silence teaches us that silence is always present — even in the midst of a baby's cry, even in the midst of rage or fear or bitter loneliness.

We look at the monastic notion of the "school of love," considering how silence is actually an instructor in the school of love — teaching us how to love others, as well as to love ourselves. But we also acknowledge that in relationships silence can sometimes be a way of avoiding intimacy — where "unheld conversations" can  signify a kind of external silence which masks interior noise. Again, though, silence can be the doorway through which we move to find reconciliation or greater intimacy — even if it means moving through "the fire" of conflict or challenging conversations.

Our conversation includes some thoughts on the sometimes contentious relationship between silence and language, and how poetry represents a way to bridge that particular gap.

What is a poem? A poem is just a useless spray of language. And yet, in that useless spray of language we find beauty, we find meaning, we find insight, we find connection, we find ourselves.— Carl McColman

Among the resources and authors we mention in this episode were poems by Rumi and Thomas Merton, and mention of the work of Cynthia Bourgeault as well as the spirituality of the desert fathers and mothers, particularly in regard to the deadly or afflictive thoughts. The following resources can help you learn more:

Coleman Barks, tr., The Essential Rumi (includes "The Guest House")

Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

Thomas Merton's poem "Love Winter When the Plant Said Nothing" can be found in several books, including:

Collected Poems of Thomas Merton

In the Dark Before Dawn

Emblems of a Season of Fury 

To learn more about the desert tradition of non-attachment to afflictive thoughts:

Mary Margaret Funk, Thoughts Matter

John Cassian, Conferences

Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer

What's the connection between words and silence is that they're so interpenetrated that you need to have them both. You actually can speak yourself into the silence...  The only problem with words is that we get  trapped in them. — Kevin Johnson

Kevin Johnson is a university professor, writer, speaker, and retreat leader based in Connecticut.

Unless you are an absolute hermit, other people factor in your life — and relationships can be noisy indeed.