Monastic silence
[2] Religious recommendations of silence as praxis do not deprecate speech when it is thoughtful and considerate of commonly held values.
[2] In Christianity, monastic silence is more highly developed in the Roman Catholic faith than in Protestantism, but it is not limited to Catholicism.
The practice has a corresponding manifestation in the Orthodox church, which teaches that silence is a means to access God, to develop self-knowledge,[3] or to live more harmoniously.
[4] Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, placed the virtue of silence on par with the faith itself in a synodal letter from AD 400.
"Benedict and his monastics would know from chanting the Psalter every week the verse that follows: 'I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse, my heart became hot within me.
(Psalm 62)[6] The Trappist rubric "Living in silence" illustrates centuries-old hand gestures which were "developed to convey basic communication of work and spirit".
Christian theology differs from Dharmic religions with regard to the mode in which spiritual ascent transpires within the context of contemplative quiet.
However, Christianity, particularly Protestantism, emphasizes the belief that ultimate spiritual achievement is not within the grasp of mortals, no matter how persistent their practice may be.
Rather, the mechanism of spiritual attainment, which they regard as salvation and proximity to the deity, is believed to occur solely through supernatural means—variously described as the action of God or of the Holy Spirit, and called grace.
"[6]Baptist pastor and evangelist Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847–1929), a member of the Higher Life movement, developed a strong commitment to silence, which he saw as one of the ways to gain access to God's guidance on all matters.
In the hush of the soul the unseen becomes visible, and the eternally real.... Let no day pass without its season of silent waiting before God.
"[13]Meyer influenced Frank Buchman (1878–1961), originally a Protestant evangelist who founded the Oxford Group (known as Moral Re-Armament from 1938 until 2001, and as Initiatives of Change since then).
Foundational to Buchman's spirituality was the practice of a daily "quiet time" during which, he claimed, anyone could search for, and receive, divine guidance on every aspect of their life.
Dr Karl Wick, editor of the Swiss Catholic daily Vaterland, wrote that Buchman had "brought silence out of the monastery into the home, the marketplace, and the board room.
Quaker silent worship is a form of church service that utilizes infrequently-broken congregational silence rather than sermons, singing, or spoken prayer.
Although technically not classified as monasteries, synagogues, yeshivas, and beit midrash (house of study) are the models, along with the Tanakh (Bible), upon which the monastic silence tradition are built.
We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the light of exterior and objective values which make them trivial by comparison.
James Conner, OCSO wrote about the Fifth Christian–Buddhist Contemplative Conference held at the Naropa Institute in which ordained practitioners from Zen, Vajrayana, and Catholic monastic lineages conducted meditation and discussion.
[citation needed] The spiritual practice of silence has been extended into the healthcare setting under the rubric of Mind-Body healing.
[26] Dr. Jack Engler of the Theravada tradition of Buddhism is Director of the Schiff Psychiatric Center at Harvard University and participates in Christian–Buddhist dialogue.[relevant?]
Dr Engller lived as a novice at the Abbey of Gethsemane, which is affiliated with Merton, and studied Buddhist meditation practices in Burma and India.[23][relevant?]
Ludwig Wittgenstein, in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, recommended silence to philosophers who were tempted to overextend their reach: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."
