Silence and the Contemplative Edge

What does silence have to do with living and working at the contemplative edge? This episode brings together a number of explorations and themes from season 1 on silence, and looks in particular at the connection to contemplation and creation. 

Let me know how your relationship with silence is shifting by tagging me on twitter @rashmir, #contemplativeedge

Timestamps to key points

[00:56] - A brief recap of this season on silence

[02:53] - Recommended resources for further reading and reflection

[03:22] - Life happens in the silences - a poem by Andō

[03:58] - Listener feedback

[04:44] - Slowing down is a key to inner silence

[06:36] - Mindfulness as a key practice

[06:57] - Definition of the Contemplative Edge

[07:57] - Slowing, silence, stillness and spaciousness and contemplative practice

[09:18] - Gordon Hempton silence quote

[10:35] - The creative relationship to silence and the impulse to create

[11:34] - What if silence is the ultimate stimulus?

[11:44] - Silence is key to creative and contemplative practice, and it is also an outcome

[11:55] - Nature, wonder and awe and their relationship to inner silence, mystery and not knowing

[12:42] - The deeper vein of silence and it’s relationship to sensing what is alive and what is emergent

[13:16] - Richard Rohr on silence as a living primordial presence

[14:12] - Silence is essential to living and working at the contemplative edge

[14:17] - Silence is a sort of wholeness, a sort of knowing, and perhaps also a deeper plane of love

Resources/further reading

Silence - The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Thich That Hanh, available wherever books are sold and lent

Andō: Experience a world of silence, sound, and words, https://ando.life/ 

Richard Rohr on SIlence, the Great Teacher: https://cac.org/silence-the-great-teacher-2020-01-07/