Kahlil Gibran on Silence, Solitude, and the Courage to Know Yourself

The solitary life, being silent, clears away the smoke-screen of words that man has laid down between his mind and things. In solitude we remain face to face with the naked being of things.

All of our great contemplative traditions advocate the necessity for silence in an individual life: first, for gaining a sense of discernment amid the noise and haste, second, as a basic building block of individual happiness, and third, to let this other all-seeing identity come to life and find its voice inside us.

Silence is a great friend of the soul; it unveils the riches of solitude. It is very difficult to reach that quality of inner silence. You must make a space for it so that it may begin to work for you.

Give yourself the opportunity of silence and begin to develop your listening in order to hear, deep within yourself, the music of your own spirit. —John O’Donohue

Rumi, the thirteenth-century Sufi poet and mystic who often wrote about the spiritual journey, said that silence is the language of God. Truth is found in silence. Inspiration, understanding, rest, renewal, healing, and peace all emanate from silence. The ability to transcend whatever keeps us blocked or limited is found in silence through the stil

Silence is living, dynamic, and liberating. The practice of silence nourishes vigilance, self-knowledge, letting go, and the compassionate embrace of all whom we would otherwise be quick to condemn.