“Solitude and silence give us the opportunity to close out many external voices that claim our immediate attention and are trying to shape our choices and our future. We need to learn how to keep our need for noise and entertainment to a minimum as a first step to a more intense spiritual life. If this is successful, we can begin to struggle against a greater hindrance, the inner noise that comes from deep within us: old resentments, fantasies, ambitions as well as various forms of self-programming. This source of disturbance is harder to still, but any progress we make will be liberating.
We can sometimes find silence in a crowded place, but most often we need to be imaginative in making opportunities for ourselves to enjoy our own interior space: a quiet seat in a garden, walking the dog, painting a fence, listening to music, long-distance driving, ironing, weeding a flowerbed, reflective reading. Many recreational activities and manual tasks can become rich inner experiences if we learn to resist the temptation to fill them with noise and distraction …”
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