Midweek Meditation: The Three Silences

In learning meditation, one of the most important postures is in the posture of silence. It can be a great teacher to the open student. When the heart is still, a little whisper, a small ripple can create waves of profound images to help us grasp a bigger sense of God's presence. The following reading is from the American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

THE THREE SILENCES

THREE Silences there are: the first of speech, 
  The second of desire, the third of thought; 
  This is the lore a Spanish monk, distraught 
  With dreams and visions, was the first to teach. 
These Silences, commingling each with each, 
  Made up the perfect Silence that he sought 
  And prayed for, and wherein at times he caught 
  Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach. 
O thou, whose daily life anticipates 
  The life to come, and in whose thought and word 
  The spiritual world preponderates, 
Hermit of Amesbury! thou too hast heard 
  Voices and melodies from beyond the gates, 
  And speakest only when thy soul is stirred!

conrade