Silence

“Without the practice of silence….spiritual disciplines will become objects we employ in an attempt to produce our own transformation or in an attempt to manipulate God to bring about the changes we have decided are needed, or in an attempt to impress (and thereby control) others with our spirituality.  The practice of silence is the radical reversal of our cultural tendencies.  Silence is bringing ourselves to a point of relinquishing to God our control of our relationship with God.  Silence is a reversal of the whole possessing, controlling, grasping dynamic of trying to maintain control of our own existence.  Silence is the inner act of” letting it go.” 

Through prayer “God will gradually awaken us to the multiple layers of controlling, grasping ‘noise’ in our lives: the defensive postures by which we justify our control of people and circumstances; the attack dynamics by which we extend and maintain our possession and control of others and our world; the indulgent habits by which we grasp things and others for ourselves; the manipulative practices by which we inflict our will on the world; and especially the ways in which we attempt to use God to support and justify these structures.”

(Robert Mulholland, “Invitation To A Journey,”  InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1993, pp. 136-137)