The Gift of Silence and Solitude

Blaise Pascal, the 17th Century mathematician and philosopher, wrote the following: “All problems arise from man’s inability to sit alone in silence.” Our own times are filled with noisy distractions. We are bombarded with noise. It is everywhere. I have always been miffed by the need for music in restaurants, or in elevators. When I go for walks, I am amazed at how many people are out walking, supposedly to get out into nature, who have earbuds in their ears listening to music, or news, or podcasts, or are jabbering away on their phones. Why are we so afraid of silence and solitude?

The 20th Century writer, C.S. Lewis, in his book, Screwtape Letters, has his main character, Screwtape, a senior devil who is counseling his apprentice devil, Wormwood, about the danger to them of allowing their “patients” to be in the environments of beautiful music or peaceful silence. “Since our Father (Satan) entered Hell…no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces but all has been occupied by Noise–Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile…We will make the whole universe a noise in the end…The melodies of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress” (Letter XXII).

Well, it seems that the “infernal space” has clearly grown wider in these immensely noisy times. And the effort to “shout down melodies of Heaven” are clearly present in our culture. Indeed, the noise and raucousness of our times has overwhelmed the natural environment. Because of this, silence, more often than not, is feared in our time. Silence and solitude seem to make most people uncomfortable, uneasy, even tense. What is it that is feared? What about silence throws us off so? Maybe it’s the fact that silence and solitude make us more profoundly aware of the present moment. We become profoundly aware of ourselves, the good, the bad, and the ugly in the reality of the present moment. It is in the profound reality of the present moment that God awaits us, but how often do we respond to silence and solitude by giving ourselves over to the quick and easy distraction of noise?

Again, the ever-malignant Screwtape speaks to Wormwood about time. “Our Enemy (God) wants them (us) to attend to two things, to eternity itself and to that point in time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy (God) has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them”. Screwtape understands that the past is real and can be dangerous to the demonic designs, but it is gone. The value of the Past is in what can be learned from it. He understands, too, that the future is not real yet. He tells Wormwood that the greatest place for he and his minions to control their human “patients” is to get them caught up in concerns about the future. He says to Wormwood, “Hence, nearly all vices are rooted in the Future. Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present: fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.”

Rather than fearing and avoiding solitude and silence, God wants us to develop a love and a desire for these gifts. He wants us to carve out such moments in our days more regularly. It is God that calls us into these precious Present moments, for it is where He awaits us. It is in silence and solitude that He makes his Real Presence known to us. Even in liturgy, there is a role for moments of silence. We tend to fill our liturgies with more music, more words, rather than to promote the gift of silence. Silence in liturgy can train our minds and hearts to listen more deeply to the word of God, to realize our personal relationship to the Lord. It provides crucial moments for personal reflection, allowing us to be centered in the sacred space of the Present moment without distraction, to be more truly present to God in the now moment.

So much of our present environment is unreal, filled with the noise of distractions and the chaos that results from it. It is the cause of our anxieties, not of their solutions. We have a real need for both solitude and silence in our lives in order to be truly healthy in mind, body, and soul.

You might use this little prayer to help you in your effort to bring more solitude and silence into your daily lives in order to deepen your relationship with God: “Dear God, help me to respond more regularly to your whispered invitation to be with you in the sacred space of silence and solitude. I desire to be in your presence. Still my mind and heart and allow me to enter into the sanctuary of your love. Help me to let go of all of the distractions that call me away from you, and allow me to simply be with you in this sacred space of solitude and silence. Help me to hear your voice, guiding me and filling me with peace. I pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.