Silence is the mother
of the Spirit.
It births in us
the cloister of the heart.
It brings us beyond the noise of chaos and confusion
of a spinning world
to the cool, calm center
of the spiritual self . . .
It is silence that keeps us
from giving full reign
to the empty imaginings
and cruel commentaries
always too fresh at hand
in our narcissistic selves . . .
“It is written,” the Rule teaches,
“In a flood of words
you will not avoid sin.”
Joan Chittister
from The Monastery of the Heart
World Turning Painting Seamus Berkeley