Surrender to Silence

Reflect on the title of this blog “Surrender to Silence” for a few moments. Does surrendering have a negative connotation? How about silence? The mind might consider silence or surrendering a weakness… speak your mind! speak out! The heart knows otherwise. On the other hand, with the tv blaring, the kids shouting, the phone ringing, the doors slamming, the dog barking, the lawn mower blasting, the cars honking…. surrendering to silence is just what you need. Bring it on!

Is silence silent? Or, do the peaceful sounds of a gurgling brook, the wind whispering through the trees, the birds singing, a baby laughing, a gentle musical concerto….. Do these sounds aid in your surrender to silence? What is this silence behind, beyond, within, or between the sounds?

I’ve been pondering my own experience with surrendering to silence. If I think about it, it’s a lot easier to list my experiences with the more annoying sounds as I sit on my screen porch on a beautiful afternoon writing this blog: there’s my dog, Maija, who continues to bark at the neighboring dog, the lawn crew on their riding mowers cutting the neighbor’s grass, the airplane flying overhead as it gets closer to Midway for its landing. Kind of amazing how much background noise there is that we are so accustomed to that we don’t even hear it anymore.

My most pleasurable sounds are definitely connected with water: a flowing stream, a waterfall.

Add to that some chirping birds and the wind gently blowing through the trees as I’m kayaking on a peaceful river. How grateful I am for this blessed experience, especially when there are no background noises of highways, airplanes, or chain saws cutting down trees. This is hard to come by, but I have had the pleasure of experiencing pure and isolated sounds from Mother Nature. Experiences like this rejuvenate my soul and expand my consciousness of our connection and oneness with Source, the Divine, God. Yet there is more; this is but the portal. It takes effort, time, and practice, but you can go deeper and, by doing so, connect to a universal consciousness.

The closest I get to surrendering to silence would be during meditation. I love my daily meditation. Meditation has changed my life. I use Deepak Chopra’s calming voice, reciting the mantras against a backdrop of gentle music. Then his voice fades out, and what’s left is just the background music. In my mind, I am still hearing the mantra, even silently repeating it. And then, something magical happens. I “surrender to silence”. The sounds of nature, the mantra, the background music become my portal, the doorway, to my true self, my true essence, my true being. I don’t even have true words for this, for the sound of the word almost invades the sanctity of this silent space, time, no space, no time. I confess that to access this portal is not easy. So many sounds to travel through.

But, ah!!!….when I arrive, when I access this still point. From one Source pours out multitudes of gifts: unbounded peace, gratitude, wisdom, knowing, timelessness, freedom, love, beauty. I experience “The Source of All That Is”. Upon entering this portal, these gifts are experienced not individually but in wholeness. Each quality is experienced as the whole, and within the whole is experienced each quality. All is One. All is felt at once, from one point in space and time, yet in all dimensions at once. This can’t be described, only experienced.

So, I invite you to ask yourself if you have ever truly experienced the joy of surrendering to silence. Have you come heart to heart with this meditative space that begins with surrendering to silence? We know the expression, “Just listen to your heart”. But, I claim that you will not hear your heart until you pass through the portal of “Surrendering to Silence”. Through this portal, your heart begins to whisper sounds that you may have never heard before. These sounds may not even come forth in words, but in a language that only the heart understands. As the truth of who you are, the heart of you that is boundless and timeless, greets you at the portal, you will answer this call with a deep knowing that could never be communicated in words, but only in silence.