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Welcome
Feature from Austin, Texas
Dreams of Silence
Why the Skull?
Film and Book Recommendations
Silence in the News?
Who’s Who in Silence
The Child's Garden
Poetry

From the Editors

Silence, number 26 in the Descending Principles (numbered 20-29), refers not only to the absence of sound, but to movements in upper dimensions that are beyond ordinary sound.  Rabbi Alan Lew writes, “there is a reality even deeper than sound and gesture . . . the dazzling silence within sound itself, the profound emptiness out of which form emerges.”  High-intensity vibrations and music heard in dreams often touch on this Silence.  This month we explore some of the levels of silence within and beyond sound.

Tamar Frankiel, Editor

Interested in an online Dream Circle class? Email us at ck@generosityincorporated.com!

Thanks to Cammie Doty, Carol Bucklew, Jen Kitzenberg, Mary Sue Dailey, Annette Hulefeld, and Connie Kaplan for their help on this issue of our newsletter!

Feature Article from Austin, Texas

This month's principle is Silence. Here is a teaching from one of our dream sisters:

This morning I sat on my porch, sipping my steamy coffee, watching the gentle rain nourishing “my” beautiful green hills.  I nestled in, planning to find Silence, so that I could write about it more clearly.  No such luck.  My mind, like a gossipy teenager, wanted to chatter about my decisions, my health, my desires, my dreams.  Me me me. I finally gave up and came inside.

Then I realized that’s exactly what I have to say about Silence.  You cannot command it to show up.  You cannot obtain it.  Rather, it visits you. And as soon as you try to grab it, it slips away. It is not something you acquire, but something that comes when there is emptiness/space.  In other words, when you’ve recognized all that it is NOT, there it is.

Michaelangelo reportedly once said that the way he created his most marvelous sculpture was to chip away everything that was NOT The David.  That’s the way Silence works:  you simply eliminate everything else.

Such a task is not simple at all, is it?  In fact, it’s impossible, if you take it on as a task. Silence visits only when you least expect it–only when you’re not thinking about it or reaching for it.  But when it comes, it is the most magnificent guest, bearing the most treasured gifts you’ve ever received.

My mental-body principle is Silence.  My son and daughter share that invisible-garment thread with me.  Each of us has our own way of allowing Silence access to our minds.  My son does it through sports.  When he’s playing baseball, his mind stops and Silence speaks through him.  My daughter does it through art.  When she’s painting, Silence guides her hands.  I have three avenues:  just as I’m drifting off to sleep; when I let hot water flow over my head in my early morning shower; and when I’m walking in nature.  All my books, all my “good” ideas, and all the ways I express my life purpose have come as a result of Silence bringing its cache to me.

Silence is one of the principles we call “galactic” (along with the other descending principles.) They are unreachable by normal means.  Like starlight, they shower down upon us; we don’t jump out and grab them.  As you read this month’s newsletter, think about the times that Silence has rained on you.  When have you heard nothing but the vibration of the bones in your skull?  What kinds of benefits did you receive at those moments?  A healing?  A unique idea?  An amazing synchronicity?  A flood of internal peace? 

Next time Silence comes to call, do nothing.  Just breathe and let it be.

--Connie Kaplan

Dreams of Silence

We can learn about the principles by examining our dreams. The dreams of Silence were, paradoxically, rather verbose, as the dreamers tried to capture and describe the intense and varied energy they encountered:

Early in the night I experience a sustained energetic clattering as that of bells tolling which makes it difficult for me to hold my dream. I affirm to do my best. Before long, I am hovering next to an Angel in the high ceiling space of a grand cathedral. She tells me plainly, “one is honest.” As I agree, I appear next in a lavender- colored  cross-shaped acolyte room. Along every wall are dark oak semi-circular altars with two people kneeling at each one in acts of quiet prayer. More words are spoken to me: “the truth is.” Next, I am hovering outside a mall where, at a tented health fair, cosmetically enhanced people are showing off their bodies and demonstrating their exercise equipment. Here I understand that it is Sunday and that yes, this is a legitimate form of spiritual practice.

Suddenly I am levitating upon my beige couch while driving upon a brand new road marked with green signs that say “Alta Vista Blvd.” I stop and enter a commercial building where a social worker offers me a program requiring me to sustain a very quiet vibration, and also an established program related to communication. . . I can’t do it now, so the social worker suggests a new class that starts at the beginning of the year. A spirit guide levitating above me encourages me, and so I nod yes to the social worker. I tell her this is a turning-point day for me, thank her and extend my hand. The social worker steps beyond my hand and gives me an enormous spinning euphoric bear hug instead. The energy feels intoxicating as I spin off my feet and as I reflect this energy back as best I can my name is repeated to me three times. As slowly disengaging from this embrace, I state there are few people who can penetrate me so, and question this as a form of meditation practice. The social worker stares back as if replying, “Duh, I am meditation practice."

Outside, my couch is playing music out of a secret drawer which I haven’t noticed before. I open the drawer and understand I am to change out of my Sunday-best clothes. Underneath is an I-pod player singing music even though its headphones are shattered and disconnected. I pull out the headphones to find that there is a fine silver piano wire wrapped around its plug as part of a weaving of lacy knots, which I work to untangle …there is no trash can nearby and I’m left in a tension of wanting to throw a sharp ended piano wire away without littering in a way that may cause problems for someone else.

Silence is often associated with calm meditation, and such images show up in this dream, in the praying acolytes and the class about a “fine vibration” offered by the social worker. But there is also “energetic clattering,” music disjoined from its physical source, and unexpected energy exchange with the social worker.  The dream seems to be teaching that vibrations set in motion have their own dynamic, whether we experience them as silence or as something else.

I'm due at the radio station to DJ a show. I arrive a little late and it turns out that the equipment has a problem.  In addition, only one microphone is working and that one only intermittently. I get a mike from an engineer, go on-air, apologize to the listeners and proceed to do my best with the show.  There are constant interruptions and distractions.

Soon Nova arrives with her accordion to do a live in-studio performance and interview.  This is a disaster!  I put on an extra-long track of music and help her get set up in a nearby studio since there is so much that doesn't work in the main studio.  Once she is set to go I introduce her and have her play a song.  Afterward I am horrified to learn that it wasn't broadcast at all due to all the work being done by the engineers.  I scramble back to the main studio to apologize to the listeners for the dead air.  I grab a stack of CDs to take back to the live stage area for insurance.  When I get there, Nova is introducing a whole host of back-up singers. This will never work!  I begin to back off... the whole situation is so far out of control that I can't think what to do. . . 

Later I'm back at the station with Tom K.  A concert area is being set up in the opposite end of the stage area.  A large radio banner is being hung behind the stage.  I’m relieved to be off-duty, and spread out my striped turquoise Mexican blanket for us to sit on, near the back with easy access to an electrical outlet.  I fold the end of it over to make it smaller, leaving room for more people.

Here the dreamer is trying to organize the music, but Silence has a will of its own.  Nothing is broadcast, listeners may encounter only “dead air,” but a great deal of work is being done behind the scenes by the engineers.  The experience of the dreamer is beyond thinking and doing ("I can't think what to do"); ultimately it is by going "off-duty" that one finds one's place in this energetic world.

To find Silence in your dreams look for music or sound that has an unusual vibration, for references to the skull or to the colors green or turquoise.

Why the Skull?

We hear, not only through our ears, but also through the vibrations in our skull.  Your own voice sounds different because of those resonances.  Yet the skull seems utterly hard and silent.  That’s why it is a metaphor for the principle of Silence – we think the universe is cold and silent, but actually it is alive with vibrations that give the world its true vitality, its beautiful resonance.

Film and Book Recommendations

Into Great Silence, DVD by Philip Gröning
One of the transporting film experiences of this or any other year." --Boston Globe.Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world s most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monks quarters for six months filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one; it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, Into Great Silence dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life. More meditation than documentary, it s a rare, transformative experience for all

Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn
We’re mentioning this film less as an example of Silence, than as a common misunderstanding of the principle.  Based on a true story, the film tells the story of a young man who sought a more vital life in a trek to Alaska, but ultimately died of starvation there. He idealized the silent grandeur and beauty of the wilderness, and cherished his own ability to live alone. Along the way, he encountered the potential of meaningful relationships but could not appreciate them.  His last journal notes record his too-late realization that communication gives life meaning.  As compelling as the movie is, we must remind ourselves that Silence has to be found in the midst of humanity as well as in the wild.

Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life by Alan Lew
A former Buddhist monk turned rabbi brings insights from meditation into Western consciousness, particularly biblical teachings as understood in Judaism.  His comments on the practice of breathing meditation and the window they offer onto Silence, both in his “Practice Points” and in the chapter called, “In the Transformed World."

Silence in the News

?

• Headline: Annual Day of Silence
  Students nationwide will observe an annual day of silence on April 25 to remind one another of the damage done by taunting and bullying.
  http://www.dayofsilence.org/content/news.html.
  
  
• Headline: Whisper the Sounds of Silence
  Leander Kahney, Wired.com:  Music generated on a computer is usually associated with the thumping beats of techno. But a quieter aesthetic is emerging. It's so subtle you can hardly hear it. "Lowercase sound" is the name given to a loose movement in electronic music that emphasizes very quiet sounds and the long, empty silences between them. … One recent album was so quiet, listeners wondered if it contained any sounds at all. http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2002/05/52397
  
  
• Headline: NASA Beams Beatles’ ‘Across the Universe’ Into Space
  For the first time ever, NASA beamed a song -- The Beatles' "Across the Universe" -- directly into deep space at 7 p.m. EST on Feb. 4 . . . The transmission was aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth.  http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/across_universe.html.

6. Who's Who in Silence

Among this month’s famous people with Sun in Silence are several musicians.  We usually turn up one or two, but this is an unusual number for any one Principle. They’re listed at the end – let us know if you find more!

• Jodie Foster, 1962-
  Award-winning actress, director, and producer, known for her dramatic roles in Taxi Driver, The Accused, The Silence of the Lambs, Contact. She has been an actress since the age of 3.
  

• Stephen Spielberg, 1946-
  American film director famous for blockbuster film-making with such examples as Jaws, E.T. ("phone home!"), and Jurassic Park.  He has also tackled difficult issues in films like Schindler’s List and Munich.
  
  
• William Jefferson ("Bill") Clinton, 1946-
  American president 1992-2000, third-youngest president.  So well known as a public figure, it’s difficult to describe him in non-political terms.  What about him do you think exemplifies his Sun in Silence.
  
  
• Robert Edward (“Ted”) Turner III, 1938-
  American media owner and philanthropist, best known as founder of the first 24-hour (never-silent!) cable news channel, CNN and for his United Nations Foundation.
  
  
• Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919-2008
  New Zealand mountaineer and explorer; he and his Sherpa companion Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers known to have reached the top of Mount Everest, in 1953.
  
  
• Indira Gandhi , 1917-1984
  Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966-77) and a fourth term until her assassination (1980-84).  India’s first and – to date – only female prime minister.
  
  
• M. C. Escher, 1898-1972
  Dutch graphic artist known for his mathematically inspired woodcuts and lithographs, featuring impossible constructions and explorations of infinity.
  
  
• Edgar Degas, 1834-1917
  French artist famous for his depictions of dancers, which demonstrate mastery of the depiction of movement, and for his superb portraits.
  
  
• Paul Horn, 1930-
  Pioneer of “New Age” music, also a jazz flutist, famous for his “Inside” recordings with airy, echoing sounds in spiritual places like the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramid of Giza, and the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet”).
  
  
• Herbie Mann, 1930-2003
  Born Herbert Jay Solomon, an American jazz flutist – among the first to specialize on the flute - and an early practitioner of world music.
  
  
• Henry Mancini , 1924-1992
  Award winning composer, conductor, and arranger, especially of film and television scores.  His best-known works are the “Pink Panther” theme and the song “Moon River."
  
  
• Nat King Cole,1919-1965
  Jazz pianist who, after switching his emphasis to singing, became one of the most popular vocalists of the twentieth century.
  
  
• Tommy Dorsey, 1905-1956
  Jazz trombonist, trumpeter, bandleader in the Big Band era.

7. The Child's Garden

The spiritual parenting of our children – through studying their principles – teaches us as well as them.  We at Generosity Incorporated believe that bringing this work to the next generation can be one of the most powerful forces to heal humanity.  Here’s an example of learning from our children:

The spiritual connection I have with my oldest grandchild is both indescribable and subject to wonderful stories of wonder!  He agreed to accept an invisible garment of Silence, both in the Sun and Moon placements. Here are a few melodies from his inner script.

Connie Kaplan states that with the Moon in Silence, the individual has the ability to “stop the world” and listen to the sound of truth. I can recall when Nick was seven years old, he said: “Granbunny, you know, my mom talks all the time – all the time. That makes my head hurt so I decide to let the words come into this ear, let them rest in this dark space between my ears, then I let most of the words out the other ear. She would be upset if she knew how much I don’t listen – but I listen to the stars and other ‘stuff’ – you know what I mean.”  Interesting also that this young boy also convinced his mom and dad to create a small universe: within his room, which was like a big closet, draped with black curtains, glow in the dark solar system and stars, and a space for his spirit friends to come talk to him at night!  Even if the rest of the house was messy, Nick’s sacred space was always in order – it was his place to be quiet in the middle of chaos.

Another profound way that Silence has been evident in Nick’s life is his love of the rain. Even at the age of three, Nick would be found outside, early in the morning, in rubber boots, pajamas, sitting in a lawn chair with an umbrella, “listening to the song of the rain.” At the age of nine, he sat with me on a bus among very noisy children, watching one raindrop move slowly across the windowpane. We were one in Silence. 

--Annette Hulefeld

8. Poetry

From The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: Buddhist Poet Monks of China, ed. Red Pine and Mike O’Connor (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1998), p. 51:

On an autumn evening
listening to Reverend Yeh play the ch’in
by Ch’i-ch’i (864-937), translated by Burton Watson

The ten thousand things all hushed and silent
intent upon hearing these upright tones—
when human hearts are all like this
then the world will be at peace.
Hsiang waters pouring forth autumn blue,
ancient winds blowing across the great void—
I heard them long ago when you played on Mt. Lu;
this evening I discover them again.

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