outer_silence_inner_silence tender_square "there is an outer silence, an outer stopping of the words and busy-ness, but there is also a much more challenging interior silence, where the inner talking stops as well. "most of us are familiar with this first kind of silence, although we don't get enough of it in our spiritual nuture. it's the kind of silence we normally practice in retreat times and quiet days; sometimes you'll hear it described as 'free silence.' with a break from the usual hurly-burly of your life, you have time to draw inward and let your mind meander...you listen carefully to how you're feeling, what you're wishing. in this kind of work, the free association of your mind provides the key to the renewal, and silence furnishes the backdrop where this work can go on. "but there is another kind of silence as well, far less familiar to most. in this other kind of silence, the drill exactly the opposite. in free silence, you encourage your mind to float where it will; in the other, sometimes called 'intentional silence'—or to use the generic description, meditation—a deliberate effort is made to restrain the wandering of the mind, either by slowing down the thought process itself or by developing a means of detaching oneself from it. "intentional silence almost always feels like work. it doesn't come naturally to most people, and there is in fact considerable resistance raised from the mind itself." —cynthia bourgeault, "centering prayer and inner awakening" (pgs. 7-9) 230320 what's it to you? who go blather from