Advent Silence and Wonder

Silence is something like an endangered species. The experience of silence is now so rare that we must guard it and treasure it.

     Gunilla Norris

Judaism perceives a certain stillness, an almost indescribable placidity and perfection that we can sometimes glimpse behind the turmoil of the world. It is not something we can see or hear, but it can be felt. There is a corner of Eden still tantalizingly in view.

     Rabbi David Wolpe

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

     William Butler Yeats

At the back of our brains, so to speak, there is a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life is to dig for this submerged sunrise of wonder.

     G. K. Chesterton

When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

     Mary Oliver