In the concert hall, each motionless listener is part of the performance.The concentration of the player charges the electric tension in the auditorium and returns to the playLIer magnified.I like the fact that "LISTEN" is an anagram of "SILENT".Silence is not something that is there before the music begins and after it stops.It is the essence of the music itself, the vital ingredient that makes it possible for the music to exist at all.It's wonderful when the audience is part of this productive silence.
It came to me while reflecting on that woodland encounter with the night that there are two very valuable spiritual gifts that simplicity gives to us. It seems the more we can strip our lives down to essentials, the more deliberately and awake we can live; with few wants and more time for silence and contemplation, the more we have access to our inner resources. The more lightly we walk on this earth, the more she gives to us. I call these spiritual gifts inner smiling and outgoingness of the heart.