Don’t Crowd the Canvas
“Open spaces are the analogue of the silences in a meeting for worship. Too full for articulate expression, the glory and fullness of the Infinite can only be portrayed by the unbroken silence.
Unhurried, unharried, we feel our way back to the world’s Mother, as the child feels its way to its parent’s arms. And there the Unspeakable is enough, fuller than expostulations and assurances. Yet again and again from out of that background emerge words, outthrusts of the Divine Life, a few sentences uttered in time yet pronounced from Eternity, a daily matter is set in cosmic frame. Resumption of silence is but the continuation of silence; unbroken space extends behind crag and cascade and river.
To crowd the canvas full with finite figures… that would be to miss the most important part of the picture.”
— Thomas Kelly, 1941
Quaker educator and mystic
Reader Responses
What was the moment in your life you realized silence could be spiritually powerful?
How has silence shaped your life?
We called it The Holy Spring, that sometimes bubbling always wetness that poured and seeped out of rocks in the mountain hill behind our house in Pennsylvania. In grade school, probably 4th grade, I'd go under the hemlock boughs that surrounded The Holy Spring. The sheltered feeling was spiritually powerful. I was not alone.
By 8th grade, stripmining destroyed The Holy Spring, but the bulldozers that cut across the mountain exposed a huge rock. I claimed it and sat upon it to journal, pray and think in silence. I hoped I would not hear any calls to return to the endless chores. I was strongly aware that thoughts needed silence. And that my thoughts could be spiritual.
Ruth S., Enola PA, USA
This May I was diagnosed as having a heart attack at my small local hospital. That meant transport by ambulance to a major city hospital about 70 miles away. I asked the EMTs if I might center into silence as I am Quaker.
When I finally made it to the Cardiac Cath Lab later, these same EMTs told the surgeon by centering into silence my blood pressure had quickly gone from 167/117 to 106/72. The doctor said he had heard of that but I was the first in his experience. 'She saved her own life,' he said. 'She needed to get to me within 30 minutes.' (it was well over an hour) I have always felt that special connection I make when centering but now know it is shaping my life.
Elaine T, Greencastle, IN, USA
My first visit to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Central Kentucky, the Spring of 2005, the last week of my eight week sabbatical. The signs on the walkway entry to the monastery oratory read, "Silence Is Spoken Here." The same dining room table.
Throughout the day I would notice the monks in different spaces and places sit in contemplative silence as is to deeply listen to the voice of God all around. Then I began to notice within myself the small, still inner voice of God, including the outer voice that nature provided. All of that was captured in the silence. Even now as I sit looking over the Italian countryside of Guardiagrele, Italy it is in the silence that I feel, see, and hear the presence of God. "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."
Joseph J, Milwaukee, WI, USA
This Week’s Messages
Mon Sep 08
In the Silence of the Heart, God Will Speak
“We cannot find God in noise and agitation. Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence. What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us. In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.” …
Tue Sep 09
Silence Is to the Spirit What Sleep Is to the Body
“Love silence, even in the mind; for thoughts are to the mind as words are to the body, troublesome; much speaking, as well as much thinking, spends [….] True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. It is a great virtue; it covers folly, keeps secrets, avoids disputes, and prevents sin.” …
Wed Sep 10
Yielding to the Presence of God Is Not Easy
“The early church gathered not around Scripture, creed, or liturgy but around the presence and the experience of God in their midst. They trusted that God is what they needed to live and find their way through the empire. These new followers created seedbed communities called the Ekklesia—meaning called-out assembly or congregation—in which they could experience the presence of God within.” …
Thu Sep 11
On 9/11, We Remember That War Does Not Work
“Friends, as events unfold in the world around us, I very much fear that we are on the eve of a new and terrible global war. Even now it could be stopped, but there is not the will to stop it. There is rather the will to threaten and to fight, either by design or lack of thought, blundering forward in a manner reminiscent of the events that led up to World War I. The consequences of the war now beginning will bring immense suffering to many peoples. We as Friends need to do what we can to stop the wars that are already spreading or intensifying. But we also need to be prepared to be Quakers in wartime — never an easy experience.” …
Fri Sep 12
Is Quaker Meeting Boring?
“If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.” …
Sat Sep 13
The Foundation of Quaker Spirituality
“What is spiritual silence? It is not just the absence of talk. Silence has substance. It is the presence of something. If we can stay in this place of silence without rushing to fill it up in some way, we are humbled to know even for a little while that we in our own power do not have all the answers. We become more willing to listen. Meanwhile, God has always been communicating. Listening to the Inward Teacher is the foundation of Quaker spirituality.” …
Read the source of today’s quote
Banner art by Mark Pratt-Russum
