Identities & Idolatries, Part 2: Why reconnecting with Silence is the way back

Our inability to be with silence (read: reality, uncertainty, the unknown, our lack of control, our fear and fragility) and Silence (read: the Absolute, that which is well beyond our human mental striving) is why we’re in this mess — but this also doesn’t have to be the end of the story. 04.10.23 (Part 1 is here.)

There are voices, and I’ll add my own small voice here, that are earnestly trying to say: We desperately need to re-engage with the sustained Silence of contemplative practices.

I get that on the surface this might seem crazy and totally unrelated to the problems I’ve addressed in the previous post. What does me being quiet for 20 minutes a day have to do with extremism or religious nationalism or the downfall of democracy?

I get the skepticism. But the more I witness what’s going on, the more I see this glaring lack of internal silence as the root of our struggles.

An example we saw so starkly was at the start of the pandemic: we couldn’t last three weeks in relative quiet. We could not handle it. The slowed-down pace of our own lives drove many of us — in some cases, quite literally — insane.

Even with screens and Netflix and no-contact delivery, it was still too too quiet. Not enough distraction…