Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk known for essays, letters, and writing books. He was an artist and poet, as well.
Sabbath is a retreat from the busyness encountered in daily life. It is less about separation from the world and more about finding bridges linking us with the world and others in the world. The word treat suggests healing and making whole.
We seek bridges allowing us to let go of baggage we carry and skeletons we dance with. Parker Palmer used Thomas Merton’s writing explaining the need for peace, solitude, and silence in life. This is not a withdrawal, but a different way of encountering the world and hearing the words it speaks more clearly.
Part of Taoism is seeking principled paths and ways forward. Parker Palmer and Thomas Merton drew on this thinking in expressing a need for silence in life otherwise the noise of daily life is deafening.
Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
to speak your
name.
Listen
to the living walls.
Who are you?
Who
are you? Whose
silence are you?
Who (be quiet)
are you (as these stones
are quiet). Do not
think of what you are
still less of
what you may one day be.
Rather
be what you are (but who?)
be the unthinkable one
you do not know.
O be still, while
you are still alive,
and all things live around you
speaking (I do not hear)
to your own being,
speaking by the unknown
that is in you and in themselves.
“I will try, like them
to be my own silence:
and this is difficult. The whole
world is secretly on fire. The stones
burn, even the stones they burn me.
How can a man be still or
listen to all things burning?
How can he dare to sit with them
when all their silence is on fire?”
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Wonderful post, Ivon. There is so much to hear in the silence. Why anyone would avoid it when it can be so rich is so very sad. So poignant, this statement, “We seek bridges allowing us to let go of baggage we carry and skeletons we dance with.” Thank you.
Thank you Carrie for a wonderful comment.
dancing flame
~
silence
with many
around the fire
Thank you for the lovely comments.
Yes, it is about calming the chatter of the mind so we can hear the message of the small still voice. Have a lovely Sabbath, Ivon! xoM
I did thank you. Take care and enjoy.
Parker Palmer sounds like my kind of man.
I couldn’t live without the ‘sound of silence’. Sometimes even the chatter of friends and family interrupt my thoughts and while I love to see them, I also love the time when they’re absent and all is quiet.
Parker is one of those writers who has only a handful of books, but I savour the slowness with which he writes the book. There is a deep quality in them.
Love Merton. Collect quotes and read passages of his often.
He was and remains such a deep thinker.
Thank you! I bought a book by TM a few months back, but have not really looked at it yet. Everything happens when it is supposed to….you just reminded me to take another look! Have a super Sunday!
I did. He was an incredible writer and thinker. Take care and enjoy.
The last part of “how can…” is so true and so sad…. Thank you, Ivon.
You are welcome Amy.
Merton is worth reading, again and again. Always makes me think.
Thanks for this.
You are welcome. I return to his books frequently, finding something new that I missed before.
❤ this
Thank you Bonnie.
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