Faith conversations often focus on words, prayer, teaching, Scripture, but silence can be just as formative. Do you see silence as part of your spiritual life? Why or why not?
In discipleship, I always remember to say “Let the one with the most to say, say the most”. This means “rely on listening”, and practice it. We only learn through listening. We may structure existing ideas through talking, but we only take in new light through listenintg. Listening requires being quiet; listening requires biting our tongue.
KP
I know there’s a lot of talk in Christian circles about being silent before God to hear His voice. I think the silence has more to do with a quiet mind that isn’t flitting from one thing to another. It doesn’t play into my relationship with God, but I am silent before Him when I’m on a walk. My walk time is prayer followed by silence and in the silence I’m just taking in His creation.
I’ve heard God speak to me. Not often but yes, I’ve heard Him. It’s not at a time when I was looking for Him to speak or even a time when I was deliberately silent. There’s no mistaking His voice and it seems to be said in the heart region. Not audible, but words. I believe that its not up to me to hear Him speak, nor do I have to manipulate with silence to get Him to do so. He is quite capable of speaking to me in any situation.
That’s not really what you asked, but silence and hearing God seem to go together in most people’s minds. There are a lot of spiritual practices in the church and the goal seems to be to have a spiritual experience. I was involved with that once, but put it aside.