Do not think that the words of prayer as you say them arise to God. It is not the words themselves that ascend; it is the burning
desire of your heart that rises like smoke
toward heaven.
~ a Hasidic saying
If we have courage, we take silence as
medicine to cure us from our social ills, the suffering of self-centered alienation. In
silence, sacred silence, we stand naked like trees in winter, all our secrets visible under our skin. And like winter's tree, we appear dead but are alive.