The importance of silence and solitude in spiritual growth
How are silence and solitude important in the spiritual growth of a person? Spirituality is the science of the Spirit, the Atman, the Prana, or the Soul. It is about attaining Self-Realisation and, thereafter, God-Realisation. In essence, spirituality is all about knowing and realising the truth about ourselves: Who am I? Why am I born? How am I born? Why am I in the circumstances and situations of life that I am in? Am I born for a reason? If yes, what is the purpose of my life? These are the questions that one addresses to spiritually grow and attain Self-Realisation. Thus, spirituality is about the journey toward our inner self, a voyage to realise the truth about oneself. One can undertake this voyage to understand and realise oneself only through silence and solitude. Therefore, silence and solitude are vital for the spiritual growth and journey of a person.
What is silence? Silence is something that cannot be easily explained. Simply put, silence is when there is no noise. This world is full of noise—the noise of people talking and chattering, the noise of motor vehicles and horns, the noise of animals and birds, and many other sounds. These are voices. Silence is when we are devoid of all the noise.
What is solitude? Solitude is being with oneself and away from everybody and everything else. In solitude, we do not contribute to the worldly noise; rather, we become silent and experience silence.
What does silence do? In silence, we can contemplate ourselves, our actions, circumstances, and reactions to situations. We human beings think that we are the body and the mind, and this belief gives birth to the ego. Hence, we start identifying ourselves with the body, mind, and ego. Our mind is like a monkey; it is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. These thoughts bombard us, preventing us from contemplating and discriminating between truth and myth. Our mind throws about 50 thoughts at us approximately every minute, making it a whopping 50,000 thoughts a day. This is the Mental Thought Rate (MTR). When we are in silence and solitude, we can observe our mind, and slowly and gradually, we become the witness instead of the victim. Our MTR gradually reduces from an unmanageable 50 thoughts per minute to 49, 48, 47, and so on, until it becomes one thought at a time. When we slow down our MTR, these thoughts don’t overwhelm us; instead, they come in gently, one by one. This is the stilling of the monkey mind, a state of Mindfulness, Thoughtlessness, or Consciousness. In this state of Consciousness, our intellect shines, and we gain the power of discrimination. We can then discriminate between our thoughts and act on each one individually. By reducing the Mental Thought Rate, we can still the mind and successfully “kill” the mind. Silence and solitude help us transition from a state of mind to a state of Mindfulness or Consciousness.
One must practice silence, solitude, and meditation in their daily routine. Moving from a state of mind with a high MTR of negative thoughts to a state of Consciousness with an MTR of one thought at a time, while also switching all negative thoughts to positive ones, is not easy. Observing silence, observing our thoughts, and deliberately attempting to slow down this barrage of attacking negative thoughts while converting them into positive ones using the power of discrimination is a significant step in the spiritual growth of an individual. This progress is possible only when one is uninterrupted in this process of witnessing one’s thoughts, achievable only in solitude without any external disturbance and interruption.
It is truly said that as long as there is the noise of the outside world, we cannot hear the divine voice of the inner world. When we are in silence and solitude, we stop speaking and halt our outer voice. Then, we can hear our inner voice—the Divine voice—with clarity. Silence and solitude enable us to listen to, feel, and experience the Divine voice within by stilling all our sensory perceptions—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. What lies within the depth of our heart, in our Consciousness? It is the truth that we are the Soul, the Spark of Unique Life, a manifestation of God, of SIP, the Supreme Immortal Power. Unfortunately, we are unable to experience the Divine within due to the constant noise and yearning of the monkey mind on the outside. It is said that a human being is a city of nine doors—the two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, one organ of excretion, and one for procreation. As long as these nine doors are open, the noises of the world bombard us. However, when we still our mind, shut these nine doors, and open the tenth door, we can experience a state of Enlightenment, a state of Spiritual Awakening. These nine doors open outward and bring in noise and unrest, but the tenth door opens inward. This door opens only in silence and solitude, when we are in Yoga with the Divine within.
In conclusion, for spiritual growth, it is vital to practice meditation and contemplation. We must realise that we are not body, mind, and ego; we are the Divine Soul, a manifestation of the Divine. Therefore, to start on the path of spirituality and progress in spiritual growth, we must begin with silence and solitude. Silence and solitude are not just pathways for meditation but also for self-contemplation, purification of the Soul, illumination about oneself, and ultimately, the Realisation of the Truth.