I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to do a blog or not this week since we are supposed to be “unplugging” and removing distractions but, then I saw in our workbook that we should still blog this week so, here it is.

I’ve been observing periods/moments of silence this week as best I could.  I am planning to do at least one day of silence within this two-week time frame (I’ll need to remember to do my blog early next week if I’m going to succeed in doing so) but, so far it’s just been for a few hours in the evenings and also unplugging from my devices (i.e. no FB, no email except for work, no texting, etc.) as best I could for most of the day.  As Easter is approaching, I also thought this would be a great time to plan at least a day of silence during Holy Week.  My goal is to try to observe silence from the time Holy Thursday Mass ends until Saturday night Easter Vigil (I may take a moment to pause, however, to attend Good Friday Mass as well).

As I was sitting here tongiht thinking about what to write in my blog the phrase, “Silence is Golden” came to mind.  This phrase is often used to imply that at times it is best to say nothing.  But, I wondered if this was the true meaning of this phrase or, as with many things, had this meaning evolved over time.  So, I searched (gotta love the Internet…yes, this is me plugging back in but, only for the purposes of this blog.. 😉 )  This is what I found from The Phrase Finder website at www.phrases.org.uk

Silence is golden

Meaning

A proverbial saying, often used in circumstances where it is thought that saying nothing is preferable to speaking.

Origin

As with many proverbs, the origin of this phrase is obscured by the mists of time. There are reports of versions of it dating back to Ancient Egypt. The first example of it in English is from the poet Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from German in Sartor Resartus, 1831, in which a character expounds at length on the virtues of silence:

“Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are thenceforth to rule. Not William the Silent only, but all the considerable men I have known, and the most undiplomatic and unstrategic of these, forbore to babble of what they were creating and projecting. Nay, in thy own mean perplexities, do thou thyself but hold thy tongue for one day: on the morrow, how much clearer are thy purposes and duties; what wreck and rubbish have those mute workmen within thee swept away, when intrusive noises were shut out! Speech is too often not, as the Frenchman defined it, the art of concealing Thought; but of quite stifling and suspending Thought, so that there is none to conceal. Speech too is great, but not the greatest. As the Swiss Inscription says: Sprecfien ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden (Speech is silvern, Silence is golden); or as I might rather express it: Speech is of Time, Silence is of Eternity.”

I love this excerpt and to see how it links to everything we’ve been learning in the MKMMA Experience and our challenge for these two weeks to go into Silence.  The first statemement sums it up and has been what we’ve been experiencing and what we’ve been striving to accomplish through our daily Sit- to fashion together great things so that our DMPs “may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are thenceforth to rule”.  YES! 🙂

But, what really grabbed me in this excerpt and what’s even more powerful is that “Silence is Eternity”.  I link this to everything that we’ve been reading in Haanel in that in the Silence we can connect to the Universal Mind.  For me, this is God, who is all Eternity!  Therefore, it’s something that is always there; we can always rely on the Silence for insight and guidance; for access to our Power; our world within; our connection to God; the Universal Mind.  We must implement that Law of Practice along with the Law of Relaxation to fully enter the Silence, breathe it in and be comfortable in the Silence.  Who knows what we may find.  Silence is Eternity so we have infinite potential and possibilities available to us.  I’m looking forward to entering the Silence for an extended period but, at the same time I have some slight trepediation about what I may find in the Silence.  But, I’m using that as a tool, right?!  So, only positive things will come out of the Silence!  I can’t wait to unlock what may be latched.  Look for that blog post to come…