Short Sleeves Insights -Silence!


by Hal Manogue - Date: 2007-05-22 - Word Count: 392 Share This!

"The pause, that impressive silence, that eloquent silence, that geometrically progressive silence, which often achieves a desired effect where no combination of words, howsoever felicitous could accomplish it." Mark Twain, was born in 1835, and had an illustrious career as a writer, humorist and all around great mind. He had a way with words, and as you see from this quote understood silence as well.

Silence has been written about for centuries, it has a special quality of being there when you need it, or not being there to understand it.

Silence has the distinct ability to defy definition. Silence is never silent, only wordless. Within silence another world takes shape. In speechlessness, my mind is not silent, yet there is silence. In dreams there is silence, but I am far from being silent. Silence is everywhere, in everything and is often misunderstood. It can mean indifference, insanity, insecurity, stupidity and even genius. Of course silence doesn't care about any of that, it continues with or without my judgements. It seems within space there is silence, but now scientist has discovered it is anything but silent. So what is this silence? What is this thing of thinglessness? I know I can't function without it, yet sometimes I think, its hard to function with it.

Silence is, just as I am. It is the glue that holds my world together. Someone once said; " Moments of silence are a part of the music." It is part of my music. Part of who I am. In a minutes silence, I can accomplish more than days full of noise. In silence, I am connected to my Source. In silence, I become silent, blended into the harmony of All There Is. The "Ancient Boy," Lao-tzu says it this way:

"Thirty spokes are made one by holes in a hub
By vacancies joining them for a wheel's use
The use of clay in molding pitchers
Comes from the hollow of its absence;
Doors, windows, in a house,
Are used for their emptiness:
Thus we are helped by what is not
To use what is."
Words, the symbols we use for thought, sometimes can't capture the essence of an experience. Silence is such a word. Within its emptiness lies an unexplored world, waiting for discovery. I only need to focus on silence to experience and express it. In doing so, I become it.


Related Tags: silence, mark twain, lao-tzu

Hal Manogue is a poet and author of Short Sleeves A Book For Friends. Insightful thoughts for the 21st century. Hal's 2006 collection and 2007 collection are available in bookstores and online. Visit Hal's website: http://www.shortsleeves.net or blog: http://halmanogue.blogspot.com/ for more information about his work and life. Download a copy of the new E-Book,"Unite To Write" a collection of articles written by writers around the globe, that will inspire and fill you with useful information. It's value is priceless. It's Hal's gift to you.

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