The Jews are known for asking a lot of questions. In fact, it is said that Einstein’s mother didn’t ever ask her son if he learned something in school that day, but rather did he ask good questions. Asking questions is a lesson in itself – learning how to ask questions is a great practice. But then, there’s also silence…
In Psalms David says to his Creator: “O God, the only praise worthy of you is silence”. In the tradition, Moses asks God to reveal the Torah, which is so beautiful and wonderful, as how it will unfold through humanity. In answer to Moses’ request God shows him the martyrdom of R. Akiva. Shocked, Moses asks how this could be? How could such a beautiful thing unfold to such ugliness? God’s answer? Silence!
How could such a question-loving people make put such great import on silence? How are we to know when to ask questions and when to shut up? What is silence, really?
Let’s look a little more closely. After God tells Moses “Silence”, He tells him to send the questions to tohu. Tohu is one of two words for empty in Hebrew. Tohu is the emptiness that is so empty it is mystifying, uncertain – it is emptiness that is in itself empty. It is the emptiness that is unwelcoming, with no room for the other. What can this mean?
Tohu is also the same word is used to describe the first void of Creation, when God hollowed out a part of Himself in order to make room to create. As I dream this dream, this is the place that exists before duality – before that special construct that is a physical law of our planet. Duality tells us that things are hot or cold, man or woman, light or dark. It also tells us that things are either good or bad. Moses’ question was framed in the construct of duality: Torah is good for people, unfolds to bad for people. Perhaps God was telling Moses to be silent because he didn’t know how to even frame the right question. By sending the question to tohu, the place before duality, the place where other doesn’t exist (if there is other there is inherently duality – you and the other), perhaps the right question will be formed. Tohu occurs before Creation, as a first act of preparing for creation – if we put the question to tohu, all possibilities beyond constrained, dualistic, this or that, can emerge.
How does this work with David’s statement that Silence is the greatest praise of God? I dream this a few different ways. If I am Silent – if I go beyond the questions – then I don’t box God in with my own limited thinking. Instead, by becoming Silent, I allow the magnificence of God and existence to be revealed perhaps in new, greater ways. Perspective often goes hand in hand with expectation, and expectation brings our focus to only seeing that which we’ve preconditioned ourselves to see. If we can move beyond that – go beyond the questions, expectations, prescriptions – we can allow for a greater creation to occur within us, and thus greater praise God by not limiting Him or ourselves.
I’ve been practicing ancient Jewish meditations for a few weeks, and reading about meditation practices pre-Common Era in ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Silence is at the core of both. Even if chanting, the goal is to create an inner silence. The practices of the Mediterranean are talked about often as dying, or going to the Underworld, and coming back up. As I continue to dream this, if I die to myself – meaning, my ideas, my expectations – I might come up with something quite new altogether. It has certainly been my experience of late that practicing Silence has brought me to new and exciting levels of experience, where colors are brighter, smells are more vibrant, and insights much deeper.
Today’s world is very non-Silent. There are sounds everywhere, many of them media-generated. However, today’s media is beginning to talk about the need for media-silence. From the media’s perspective, people are getting stressed out trying to keep up with all the communication and information through social networking and other connected means. It strikes me that what has been extolled as the Information Age is moving steadily toward the Age of Meaning. How much of these facts are meaningful? How much of the Tweets and Posts are truly meaningful? Is the stress really about keeping up, or more the restless search for meaning?
Radical idea, but maybe turning off Google and all the connections to “all the world holds” will actually lead to finding more of what the world really holds, for each of us, in a truly meaningful way. Silence may indeed be revolutionary. Try it – instead of tuning in and turning on, turn off. See what happens.
Shhhhh…..
