Through the wilderness

In his book Thoughts in Solitude, Thomas Merton says the following…

Contradictions have always existed in the soul of man. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a constant and insoluble problem. We are not meant to resolve ail contradictions but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the light of exterior and objective values which make them trivial by comparison. Silence, then, belongs to the substance of sanctity. In silence and hope are formed the strength of the Saints (Isaiah 30:15).

I know I often get stuck in overthinking and over analyzing a situation. Merton is right, silence can guide us above contradictions and allow us to see the bigger picture.

Silence will help us focus on that which is more important than those things we tend to fixate on.

“What really matters?” is a conversation starter which silence draws us towards.

First, however, it often asks us to walk through the wilderness of confusion, noise, and fear. It invites us to step out of the noisiness of our self-imposed prison of analysis—which we see as “safe”—and into that vast wilderness.

It can indeed be scary out there, but somewhere beyond our fear is the great space, a realm where the divine can truly be seen and known.

Ironically, that great space also lies hidden within us, and the journey though the wilderness is a journey inward as much as it is anything else.