When I return from silence I am less than when I entered: less harried, fearful, anxious and egotistical. Whatever the gift of silence is, it is one of lessening, purifying, softening. The “I” that returns is more loving than the “I” who left.

~ Rabbi Rami Shapiro

One day I disappeared into Silence…

It was more than grace, an epiphany or a mystical union; it was my soul’s homecoming, my heart’s overflowing love, my mind’s eternal peace. In Silence, I experienced freedom, clarity and joy as my true self, felt my core identity and essential nature as a unity-in-love with all creation, and realized it is within this essence that we learn to embody healing in our world.

This Silence belongs to us all—it is who and what we are. Selfless silence knows only the present moment, this incredible instant of pure life when time stops and we breathe the high-altitude air we call love. Let us explore Silence as a way of knowing and being, which we know, which we are.

Silence is within. It is within our breath, like music between thoughts, the light in our eyes. It is felt in the high arc of birds, the rhythm of waves, the innocence of children, the heart’s deepest emotions that have no cause. It is seen in small kindnesses, the stillness of nights and peaceful early mornings. It is present when beholding a loved one, joined in spirit.

In Silence, we open to life and life opens to us. It touches the center of our heart, where it breaks open to reveal another heart that knows how to meet life with open arms. Silence knows that thoughts about life are not life itself. If we touch life through Silence, life touches us back intimately and we become one with life itself. Then the mystery, wonder, beauty and sanctity becomes our life. Everything but wonderment falls away; anger, fear and violence disappear as if they never existed.

Knowing Silence is knowing our self and our world for the first time. We only have to be still until that Silence comes forth from within to illuminate and embrace us, serving as the teacher, teaching and path, redeeming and restoring us in love.

In this truth-filled moment, we enter our Self fully and deeply. We know our own beauty, power and magnificence. As the embodiment of Silence, we are perfection itself, a treasure that the world needs now. Right now the Universe needs each of us to be our true Self, expressing the healing power of our heart, in Silence.