"TRANSFORMING SILENCE"
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
By Rev. Travis Franklin
Henri Nouwen, the Catholic priest and author, says in his book, “The Way of the Heart,” “solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.” Our culture has become quite creative in making sure that we never experience solitude. As we drive we talk on the cell phone. No more road trips where it is just you and the whine of the tires as you drive that ribbon of road that is taking you to where ever. Sounds of some kind now occupy every nook and cranny of our existence. We can carry our music with us wherever we go and it is just a push of the button away. If solitude is the place whereby we are transformed when do we ever experience such solitude anymore in a noisy and over stimulated world like ours? We have become addicted to sight and sound of some kind, of every kind.
The gospels often depict Jesus as going to a solitary place. Before Jesus began his public ministry the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. It was in the wilderness and solitary places that Jesus was shaped and molded by God. I remember several years ago I became quite addicted to computer games. I would play for hours on end as I was transported into a make believe world where with the touch of the mouse I could control such a world. I finally came to realize after many hours of wasted time that I was isolating myself from everyone and everything. I gave up computer games. I decided to be available to life. I stopped trying to escape from reality and began to be open to reality and to what it had to teach me. It saved me from myself.
Who teaches our children and young people the value of silence and solitude any more? How can they learn about the transforming and shaping power of such time when they are never alone and silent? How can God ever break through the cell phones, the video games, and all the clever gadgets of our culture that fill our lives with noise and some kind of stimulus? We have become stimulus junkies. Something it seems must always fill our time. There are no more spaces in life. Everything just runs together and is all jumbled up. Who has time or space for God anymore?
The prophets warned us about idol worship. Our day is filled with idols. Take your pick. The choices are numerous. We have found a way to fill every moment with something. No more time or space for just nothing. Silence has been lost forever amidst the ongoing, never-ending string of sight and sounds of this life we have created. Even our worship has become a dizzying array of visual and auditory fireworks that keep us entertained and stimulated. If Nouwen is right no wonder we seem to be such strangers to God anymore. Who wants to be alone in a world like this? Who wants to be silent with so much to listen to and do?
Our souls seemed starved for quiet. We have become consumed with too much. God help us. God save us from ourselves and the work of our hands. I guess I am old fashioned. Everyone once in a while I just need a road trip. There is nothing more therapeutic to me than driving the road with nothing but me and the road. On such a trip I don’t listen to the radio or the CD player. I just drive and I listen. In the silence and steady rhythm of the tires rolling along the pavement as I watch the countryside move by I enter into the furnace of transformation. God has a way of shaping me on such trips. God has a way of getting my attention as I move on down the road. On such trips God and I visit. On such trips God does most of the talking and I just listen. Maybe that is what Nouwen means as he describes such solitude as being the furnace of transformation. When was the last time you just listened to the silence? Maybe it is time.
Travis