Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Friends of Silence
An inspiring newsletter called Friends of Silence is published monthly in Vermont by Nan Merrill (author of Psalms for Praying and other books). The header for this "mini-magazine" asks, "Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?" Nan does all of the work on this project herself; it consists of thoughtful quotations from various spiritual writers as well as lovely reproductions of artwork she finds within the public domain. She distributes her publication free of charge by regular mail to over 5000 individuals and groups, though contributions will be accepted from those who wish to help support her project.
Nan is another "worker behind the scenes," one who has chosen to share her talents and gifts to the world without thought of financial gain or personal fame or recognition (though, in fact, she is now known to many through her contributions.) You may subscribe simply by sending your name and address to:
FRIENDS OF SILENCE
129 Skunk Hollow Road
Jericho Vermont 05465
Here are some quotations from recent issues:
At the center of our being is a point of nothingness, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God. It is in everybody and if we could see it we would see those billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun.
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
The light of splendor shines in the middle of the night. Who can see it? A heart which has eyes and watches.
Angelus Silesius
The light that flows through your system is Universal Energy. It is the Light of the Universe. You give Light form. What you feel, what you think, how you behave, what you value and how you live your life reflect the way you are shaping the Light that is flowing through you. They are thought forms, the feeling forms and the outer forms that you have given to Light. They reflect the configuration of your personality, your space-time being.
Gary Zukov, The Seat of the Soul
Prayer is a way of sending our love everywhere at once.
Robert Lax
I know in my cells that prayer permeates a sick body, makes it shimmer as the new life comes in, making the cells remember how to respond to the harmonic whole. Music is like prayer--a mystical bridge between heaven and earth.
Marion Woodman, Bone
We will never know how the quality of life has been enhanced somewhere in the world through our silence and prayer. Yet, may we continue to offer our silent prayer as seeds of healing and peace sown with radical trust. When the prayer energy of silence is united with Love, the soul consciousness of the world awakens in equal measure.
Nan Merrill, Friends of Silence
Meditation, regarded in virtually every spiritual tradition as the gateway to transformation, teaches us how to detach our sense of selfhood from the egoic feedback loop and open ourselves directly to the infusion of divine life. . . . At first it feels like "a place we go to," this heart of God, the still point in the turning world or our being. But more and more it becomes "the place we come from," the light of God within which replenishes our being from its own endless source.
Cynthia Bourgeault
Nan is another "worker behind the scenes," one who has chosen to share her talents and gifts to the world without thought of financial gain or personal fame or recognition (though, in fact, she is now known to many through her contributions.) You may subscribe simply by sending your name and address to:
FRIENDS OF SILENCE
129 Skunk Hollow Road
Jericho Vermont 05465
Here are some quotations from recent issues:
At the center of our being is a point of nothingness, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God. It is in everybody and if we could see it we would see those billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun.
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
The light of splendor shines in the middle of the night. Who can see it? A heart which has eyes and watches.
Angelus Silesius
The light that flows through your system is Universal Energy. It is the Light of the Universe. You give Light form. What you feel, what you think, how you behave, what you value and how you live your life reflect the way you are shaping the Light that is flowing through you. They are thought forms, the feeling forms and the outer forms that you have given to Light. They reflect the configuration of your personality, your space-time being.
Gary Zukov, The Seat of the Soul
Prayer is a way of sending our love everywhere at once.
Robert Lax
I know in my cells that prayer permeates a sick body, makes it shimmer as the new life comes in, making the cells remember how to respond to the harmonic whole. Music is like prayer--a mystical bridge between heaven and earth.
Marion Woodman, Bone
We will never know how the quality of life has been enhanced somewhere in the world through our silence and prayer. Yet, may we continue to offer our silent prayer as seeds of healing and peace sown with radical trust. When the prayer energy of silence is united with Love, the soul consciousness of the world awakens in equal measure.
Nan Merrill, Friends of Silence
Meditation, regarded in virtually every spiritual tradition as the gateway to transformation, teaches us how to detach our sense of selfhood from the egoic feedback loop and open ourselves directly to the infusion of divine life. . . . At first it feels like "a place we go to," this heart of God, the still point in the turning world or our being. But more and more it becomes "the place we come from," the light of God within which replenishes our being from its own endless source.
Cynthia Bourgeault
