“See how nature–trees, flowers, grass–grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.” ~Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Our lives are cluttered by noise. The noise of life can be beautiful, relaxing and certainly inspiring, like the ballads of song and the sound of happiness embodied in laughter.

But when constant noise becomes the status quo of how we live our lives, moments devoid of audible commotion suddenly become awkward instances of discomfort; when we become addicted to surrounding ourselves with background noise, we lose the uniqueness of moments of quiet that provide us with exceptional clarity, inner balance and present-mindedness.

Engulfed in simple silence and nothing, the Soul within ourselves reemerges and returns us to our purer nature–if only for a moment.

Within these moments of quiet and nothingness, when we abandon and forget everything about who and what we are–our individual sense of the Self, our pasts, the circumstances of our lives in the present moment, and all that we expect and anticipate the future to become–a more pure, honest, and whole form of ourselves reemerges from deep within our souls. It reemerges, rather than emerging for the first time, for this purer side of ourselves resides deeply and hidden at most times, yet it remains an integral and potent component of our human nature.

Seeking Out the Quiet, Amid the Commotion

For human beings in society, the peaceful pace of nature called “silence” often and quickly becomes a discomfort. When constantly surrounded by the noise of everyday life–from the sound of the alarm in the morning, to the car radio, our iPods and MP3 players, music on our computers, to TVs and so much more–the constant stream of noise and sounds becomes the natural state of life. Every waking moment is consumed or accompanied by noise.

Although silence is the natural state of mother nature, for humans in society silence gradually becomes a series of unusual and uncomfortable pauses. Moments of quiet are even considered socially awkward when interacting with friends, family members and acquaintances.

We become so entrenched in noise that we forget what it is like to live, work, even sleep or simply exist in the midst of silence. This is unfortunate because during moments of silence and nothingness, a purer side of ourselves reemerges; in moments of blankness and quiet, and often without so much as realizing it, we embrace the present moment for all of its worth and abandon the common chaos and noise of everyday life. Devoid of the noise of life and “thinking for the sake of thinking,” in silence we regain the peace of mind of living in the moment–the unfamiliarity of living consciously and fully in the present time.

The Power of Silence: Living Fully in the Moment

The power that comes from moments of silence and quiet–those times in nature or alone to ourselves when our minds become blank and free–is that we arrive at a state of mind that allows us to fully live in the moment. Within these rare moments of silence, we are allowed to abandon the confines of our thoughts; the constant stream of consciousness and thinking that begins when we wake and merely pauses when we sleep.

Surrounded by little else than simple silence and nothing, we forget who we are and what we have become. Though led from the past and into today by that which has occurred unto and around us, in silence time loses all meaning. There is only the present moment. Within silence and nothingness, there is only the wind that rushes across the plains, nothing but the rush of waves sweeping the shores.

Devoid of the clutter of noise, we are nothing more or less than in existence; we are because we are and the universe is because it is. Engulfed in simple silence and nothing, the mind is quiet, the heart is open, and the Soul becomes clairvoyant; this is the bliss of nothingness. The gift is not given, for it simply is. The moment cannot be captured, for it simply is. The power of silence is opening ourselves to the present moment; a fleeting instance in time that we oft never realize; a fragment of our lives wherein the world becomes perfectly peaceful amid the quiet of nothingness.