The Virtue of Quietude

When was the last time you took a moment just to be alone and in silence? Not a silence of planning out your next activity, but a true silence for its own sake? Our material circumstances have gained much from a spirit of ceaseless activity, but one thing we have crowded out by our sheer volume of distractions is the ability to sit alone with our own thoughts.

So what? Haven’t we filled our time with largely useful activities? Why lament the passing of times when people had stillness simply because life was so uninteresting and devoid of the entertainments we enjoy? Because with the loss of quiet, we have lost our ability to reflect. If that virtue is lost, it matters not what pleasures or amusements are brought in to substitute.

Quietude and the reflection it fosters is the breath of life for the mind. We can stimulate, tantalize, and feed our minds with all kinds of positive inputs, but if all these experiences and ideas never have the chance to crystallize, never have the chance to form into something worthwhile, then we have robbed ourselves of the beauty of an active mind.

Our lives are often tantamount to a farmer constantly watering, fertilizing, and tending his crops without ever allowing them to come to fruition, without ever leaving them alone to grow. In the end, he is left with drowned, tattered, and poisoned plants that are worthless.

It is only in the times of silence that we are left alone with our true selves. It is then that we can’t fool ourselves into thinking that we are what we seek to portray ourselves to be. Yet, in the true state of reflectiveness, our imaginations can soar. We can realize the connections of ideas we once thought unrelated. A powerful insight that had knocked around our minds for months can now be expressed in full clarity.

But aside from these practical benefits, the most important reason for silence is that it salves our souls. We often don’t feel this healing at first. We forget that we were not created as human doings but as human beings, and thus need time to merely exist.

This theme has been expressed powerfully in the works of James V. Schall, A. G. Sertillanges, and  James W. Sire,  Pick up a copy and let them inspire you to add more time for contemplation in your life.

Next time you have a free moment, turn off the TV, computer, or smartphone and just let yourself be silent. You may be surprised at what insights you find in your own mind.