Keeping silence is work indeed. It goes against our obsessive need to communicate, socialize, produce, achieve. It is a confrontation with our emptiness, self-deceptions, even self-image—those things we try so hard to hide under blankets of activity and sound.

Silence involves a reorientation of the self, a realignment, from doing to receiving. From silence emerges the most natural expression before the divine mystery: awe and speechlessness…

The benefits of silence are numerous. Silence allows the word of God to take root in the heart and to transform it. It makes space for hearing things that would not otherwise be audible. It lets us relax our grip—and allows life to grip us instead.

Keeping silent is a most productive way to waste time. As Quakers have been known to say: “Don’t just do something; sit there.”