Today, I have been thinking about silence in relationship to peace. There is a tendency to think that silence, since it reminds us of the quiet of nature, is always a good thing, but is it? I tend to think of silence that way myself--the quiet space inside oneself. It is very much a part of the next thing that I wish to post to this website.
But, silence has its limitations. There is also the silence that does not speak the truth to save another, when one could make a difference or even the silence that suppresses truth or wishes to control another or not hear the truth, as in the silencing of another or a group for personal gains. Today, I thought about the fact that not all silence is peaceful.
We would not allow a child to stick their hand in a fire. Who would sit silently and do that with a child? Yet, with the fellow humans around us, how often to we choose silence. Most of us know the Serenity Prayer:
But, silence has its limitations. There is also the silence that does not speak the truth to save another, when one could make a difference or even the silence that suppresses truth or wishes to control another or not hear the truth, as in the silencing of another or a group for personal gains. Today, I thought about the fact that not all silence is peaceful.
We would not allow a child to stick their hand in a fire. Who would sit silently and do that with a child? Yet, with the fellow humans around us, how often to we choose silence. Most of us know the Serenity Prayer:
- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
- courage to change the things I can,
- and the wisdom to know the difference.
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