WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.
Silence should be cultivated “at all times, but especially at night.” This is the low energy point of the day for me, the night time, after dinner, and the time for the greatest temptation which is to sit and be entertained. It is very astute of Benedict to bring together the evening meal and the time before bed, together, under the umbrella of silence. Benedict even goes so far as eliminating certain texts of the Old Testament for reading because of the stimulating effect they may have on “those of weak understanding.”
Thich Nhat Hanh addresses this very important point by calling what is taken with our senses and our mind as “sensory food”. This sensory food includes conversations, entertainment and music. Conversation cannot always be eliminated with families, but other activities can be. Looking at a magazine, surfing the Internet, listening to music are often justified as relaxing or enjoyment, or as I rationalize, “ I owe it to myself to know what’s going on and relax before bed.” But it is not relaxing-oftentimes, as Hanh says, “Our real purpose…is simply to run away from ourselves or “We want to “kill time” and fill up the discomfiting sense of empty space. We may do it to avoid encountering ourselves.” (Silence: The Power of Quiet In A World Full Of Noise, Thich Nhat Hanh)
What Benedict is saying and John Main and the practice of meditation are emphasizing, is that in the silence Christ and the self are encountered. I can respond fully to the presence of love in that encounter by diligently and mindfully making room for silence through dinner and beyond before or after my meditation.
Silence should be cultivated “at all times, but especially at night.” This is the low energy point of the day for me, the night time, after dinner, and the time for the greatest temptation which is to sit and be entertained. It is very astute of Benedict to bring together the evening meal and the time before bed, together, under the umbrella of silence. Benedict even goes so far as eliminating certain texts of the Old Testament for reading because of the stimulating effect they may have on “those of weak understanding.”
ReplyDeleteThich Nhat Hanh addresses this very important point by calling what is taken with our senses and our mind as “sensory food”. This sensory food includes conversations, entertainment and music. Conversation cannot always be eliminated with families, but other activities can be. Looking at a magazine, surfing the Internet, listening to music are often justified as relaxing or enjoyment, or as I rationalize, “ I owe it to myself to know what’s going on and relax before bed.” But it is not relaxing-oftentimes, as Hanh says, “Our real purpose…is simply to run away from ourselves or “We want to “kill time” and fill up the discomfiting sense of empty space. We may do it to avoid encountering ourselves.” (Silence: The Power of Quiet In A World Full Of Noise, Thich Nhat Hanh)
What Benedict is saying and John Main and the practice of meditation are emphasizing, is that in the silence Christ and the self are encountered. I can respond fully to the presence of love in that encounter by diligently and mindfully making room for silence through dinner and beyond before or after my meditation.