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Silence: The Mystery of Wholeness
An introduction to the nature and benefits of silence as a new spiritual reality that can lead to self-awareness and healing in our chaotic, fast-paced world
With its beautifully rich prose, Robert Sardello's newest book invites us to experience silence as a companion presence—a creative heart-felt experience that renews, restores, and deepens the body's response to the internal and external world. Drawing on images and ideas from the Trials of St. Anthony, anthroposophy, depth psychology, and phenomenology, the book delves deeply into the subtleties of silence, exploring the phenomenon as a source of wholeness and revitalization.
Sharing his own insights from years of experience in spiritual psychology, Sardello takes us on an inner journey beyond the chaotic noise of the ego to a place of inner communion and self-healing. Silence opens our eyes to the importance of cultivating the nurturing aspects of silence in our personal relationships and enables us to awaken the inner currents of spirituality that ultimately lead to a path of universal compassion, service, and healing.
With its beautifully rich prose, Robert Sardello's newest book invites us to experience silence as a companion presence—a creative heart-felt experience that renews, restores, and deepens the body's response to the internal and external world. Drawing on images and ideas from the Trials of St. Anthony, anthroposophy, depth psychology, and phenomenology, the book delves deeply into the subtleties of silence, exploring the phenomenon as a source of wholeness and revitalization.
Sharing his own insights from years of experience in spiritual psychology, Sardello takes us on an inner journey beyond the chaotic noise of the ego to a place of inner communion and self-healing. Silence opens our eyes to the importance of cultivating the nurturing aspects of silence in our personal relationships and enables us to awaken the inner currents of spirituality that ultimately lead to a path of universal compassion, service, and healing.
152 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2008
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396 people want to read
About the author
Robert Sardello
78 books20 followersDr. Robert Sardello is one of the six founding Fellows of the Dallas Institute, the co-founder and co-director of The School of Spiritual Psychology, and the co-editor of Goldenstone Press.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 7, 2020
[Note Second Reading... 2.7.2020: A second reading of Sardello, and I rarely read anything twice, affirmed more to me the excellence of Silence, as well as its abstruseness. One of the more significant aspects of the tome is Sardello's differentiation between 'meditation' and 'Silence.' As well, Sardello treats prayer (he does not treat prayer as a specifically religious act, not in the manner often meant by prayer) within Silence in a manner unlike what I have read before, and what he shares corresponds to much of my own experience in moving from audible prayer to silent prayer within Silence to prayer dissolving within Silence.]
A needed caveat, first.... This book, to me, I am somewhat uncomfortable assessing publicly, but hope it helpful to some. The author may well say I, at some points, am totally missing what he meant. Yet, that possibility highlights the nature of the work Silence, and a need to assess what the author has given for guidance to readers on matters subtle and esoteric, even if plain and simple from within the experience of Silence Itself.
After 2.5 decades of studying in and exploring Silence with others and in a semi-hermitic life, I have not come upon a book like Silence. Overall, I found it inspiring and informative, confusing and challenging, likewise esoteric and practical. This is a difficult one to assess and categorize.
Sardello delves into the process of entering into Silence, while he presents Silence as simple, direct. In bringing these together, this can be misleading. If one chooses the process of movement from body into soul into soul-spirit, within Silence, one finds the Simplicity he, and others through the ages, refers to. Since he is working before body-mind, not regressively but as to timelessness, he cannot but be somewhat confusing and metaphorical.
So, yes, Sardello is wise in taking the 'risks' in providing practical guidance in entering Silence, guidance beyond what is usually provided persons who are not well-acquainted with the aspect of Silence. This is so even with the limitations of the attempt and the inevitable interpretations he places on the direct experience, as many traditions do. One can question rightly some of his assessments of the 'stops' along the way, and one is wise to do so with any guide in these matters.
One struggle I had with Silence was how to read his elaborations on 'presences.' He is working in the soul and soul-spirit domains, where real takes on a different meaning than real in our usual linear, subject-object mind. His 'presences' could be referred to as archetypes in the Jungian sense, if so, this appears regressive, as Jungianism is more an excavation of the lost past than the coming-future.
I found my own experience of Silence to be validated by Sardello, when I had not read anyone else clarify for me these experiences. Among such was found in my favorite chapter on "Silence, Prayer, and Meditation." He gives practical help in working with allowing prayer spoken, externally or internally and as a mental act, to dissolve into the pure subjectivity of impersonal Feeling, and in which we find comfort to arise that remains after the time of prayer. This prayer for Sardello is other than the traditional mode of praying to 'another' as an object outside - God, Buddha, a saint, a Teacher ... - though it may begin as such, before the transformation into the pure subjectivity of inner communion, shared by 'presences' as one symphony.
To me, to know how to relate with Silence, one would need to be one who daily seeks to live in union with Silence. Such would be true to the phenomenological aspect that inspires Sardello ~ for example, to know Silence directly, one knows it not as an object, but from within Silence Itself. He makes clear that linear logic cannot describe the process or Silence, and his book proves so, even though Sardello inspires us enough to take the journey for ourselves. Then, we can better assess Silence from Silence.
A needed caveat, first.... This book, to me, I am somewhat uncomfortable assessing publicly, but hope it helpful to some. The author may well say I, at some points, am totally missing what he meant. Yet, that possibility highlights the nature of the work Silence, and a need to assess what the author has given for guidance to readers on matters subtle and esoteric, even if plain and simple from within the experience of Silence Itself.
After 2.5 decades of studying in and exploring Silence with others and in a semi-hermitic life, I have not come upon a book like Silence. Overall, I found it inspiring and informative, confusing and challenging, likewise esoteric and practical. This is a difficult one to assess and categorize.
Sardello delves into the process of entering into Silence, while he presents Silence as simple, direct. In bringing these together, this can be misleading. If one chooses the process of movement from body into soul into soul-spirit, within Silence, one finds the Simplicity he, and others through the ages, refers to. Since he is working before body-mind, not regressively but as to timelessness, he cannot but be somewhat confusing and metaphorical.
So, yes, Sardello is wise in taking the 'risks' in providing practical guidance in entering Silence, guidance beyond what is usually provided persons who are not well-acquainted with the aspect of Silence. This is so even with the limitations of the attempt and the inevitable interpretations he places on the direct experience, as many traditions do. One can question rightly some of his assessments of the 'stops' along the way, and one is wise to do so with any guide in these matters.
One struggle I had with Silence was how to read his elaborations on 'presences.' He is working in the soul and soul-spirit domains, where real takes on a different meaning than real in our usual linear, subject-object mind. His 'presences' could be referred to as archetypes in the Jungian sense, if so, this appears regressive, as Jungianism is more an excavation of the lost past than the coming-future.
I found my own experience of Silence to be validated by Sardello, when I had not read anyone else clarify for me these experiences. Among such was found in my favorite chapter on "Silence, Prayer, and Meditation." He gives practical help in working with allowing prayer spoken, externally or internally and as a mental act, to dissolve into the pure subjectivity of impersonal Feeling, and in which we find comfort to arise that remains after the time of prayer. This prayer for Sardello is other than the traditional mode of praying to 'another' as an object outside - God, Buddha, a saint, a Teacher ... - though it may begin as such, before the transformation into the pure subjectivity of inner communion, shared by 'presences' as one symphony.
To me, to know how to relate with Silence, one would need to be one who daily seeks to live in union with Silence. Such would be true to the phenomenological aspect that inspires Sardello ~ for example, to know Silence directly, one knows it not as an object, but from within Silence Itself. He makes clear that linear logic cannot describe the process or Silence, and his book proves so, even though Sardello inspires us enough to take the journey for ourselves. Then, we can better assess Silence from Silence.
May 13, 2013
For a book about silence this one has way too many words. While I found the content of this book interesting and eye opening; I had to wade through way too many words. Furthermore, I did not connect with the writer's prose. I would however recommend anyone interested in learning and practicing silence in their lives to make an attempt to read this book because, there are some very good concepts within (once you wade through the verbose text).
May 18, 2023
*** 1.5 stars ***
Despite some kernels of insight scattered throughout this mercifully short book, most of these are so completely overgrown by a vast and impenetrable shrubbery of esoteric nonsense that it just wasn’t worth the effort.
Why then did I make the effort? The only real reason is that I have a list of books on silence and solitude that I want to read. And since I had already purchased Sardello’s book on the basis of a promising first chapter, this is where I began. However, I truly hope the others will be an improvement.
Before making a few comments, here are some basic insights about silence/solitude which most books acknowledge:
• Silence is necessary for wellbeing.
• Silence is especially difficult in our intrusively modern world.
• Attaining silence/solitude is something that requires practice.
• On the one hand, practicing silence requires that we stop doing. On the other, it sharpens our power of concentration and develops our capacity for attention.
• Silence can be understood as a secular or spiritual practice. On the secular side it can be a way of quieting the mind and relaxing the body. As a spiritual practice it can be understood as some form of participation in the Divine/Cosmos.
• Silence can be integrated into a Christian, Buddhist or secular framework.
• Paradoxically, silence/solitude is not isolating, but ideally can deepen our relationships.
To me, these are valuable lines of inquiry, and I suppose the current book at least implicitly acknowledges these basics.
As noted, Sardello’s book opens in a promising way: "This writing works anthroposophically; that is, it is careful research into an aspect of the inner life, done in such a way that anyone can verify what is stated by simply doing the inner work". Because of our tendency to admire the notion of silence as described by others without actually entering it "it also presents practical, realistic ways in which we can come to feel-sense the subtle activity occurring within the realm of Silence". Sardello therefore aims to make available “the strong descriptive work necessary for anyone to start anew with Silence and discover for oneself what Silence provides".
All that sounds good, and as such I expected the book to develop our capacity to observe and pay attention to the inner world, call it consciousness, mind, soul, or whatever. In reality the author leads the reader on a bizarre tour of his own unintelligible experiences and untenable claims. I suppose I should have seen this coming with the reference to "anthroposophy", based as it is on the pseudo-scientific/religious imaginations of Rudolph Steiner. Here are some examples:
"Gradually, the vast interiority begins to differentiate itself “as if” spirit beings are present, and we can discern different qualities among them"
"One of the basic qualities of these currents is a pulsating motion—a motion, not something that is in motion, for silence is not spatial…It is not exactly like being stroked either, because the pulsating movement is more like a friendly phantom, or even an angel, contacting and moving through us. A second basic quality of the currents of Silence as interiority-felt-exteriorly is the quality of whirling."
Sardello claims that these descriptions are only helpful if not taken literally. "It is important that we not look for these qualities of pulsing, whirling, and layering but simply notice gradually that Silence has complex characteristics". Sure. But then why go into such detail and assume that the reader’s imagination leads to similar “sense-feelings”? And to what purpose? Most troubling is the impression that the despite the “don’t take this literally” disclaimer, the author really does believe in some kind of an esoteric reality, including among other things, clairvoyance, astrology, astral planes and “non-brain-bound consciousness". While I don’t consider myself a materialist reductionist, it seems that profound cosmic significance is being attributed to what in the end are no more than convoluted mind games.
However, I'm willing to acknowledge that I've missed something and that due to my lack of patience I’ve failed to take the imaginative leap required to engage with “the Silence”. Although Sardello might suggest that the “guardians of Silence” are keeping me at bay until I’ve attained a higher level of refinement. Maybe one day I'll give it a look, if these mysterious forces permit me.
I was interested in the reference to Henry Corbin, French philosopher and scholar of Islamic mysticism.
Both the Introduction (by one of the author’s breathlessly ardent disciples), and the various contributions by Cheryl Sanders-Sardello, are utterly unbearable.
Despite some kernels of insight scattered throughout this mercifully short book, most of these are so completely overgrown by a vast and impenetrable shrubbery of esoteric nonsense that it just wasn’t worth the effort.
Why then did I make the effort? The only real reason is that I have a list of books on silence and solitude that I want to read. And since I had already purchased Sardello’s book on the basis of a promising first chapter, this is where I began. However, I truly hope the others will be an improvement.
Before making a few comments, here are some basic insights about silence/solitude which most books acknowledge:
• Silence is necessary for wellbeing.
• Silence is especially difficult in our intrusively modern world.
• Attaining silence/solitude is something that requires practice.
• On the one hand, practicing silence requires that we stop doing. On the other, it sharpens our power of concentration and develops our capacity for attention.
• Silence can be understood as a secular or spiritual practice. On the secular side it can be a way of quieting the mind and relaxing the body. As a spiritual practice it can be understood as some form of participation in the Divine/Cosmos.
• Silence can be integrated into a Christian, Buddhist or secular framework.
• Paradoxically, silence/solitude is not isolating, but ideally can deepen our relationships.
To me, these are valuable lines of inquiry, and I suppose the current book at least implicitly acknowledges these basics.
As noted, Sardello’s book opens in a promising way: "This writing works anthroposophically; that is, it is careful research into an aspect of the inner life, done in such a way that anyone can verify what is stated by simply doing the inner work". Because of our tendency to admire the notion of silence as described by others without actually entering it "it also presents practical, realistic ways in which we can come to feel-sense the subtle activity occurring within the realm of Silence". Sardello therefore aims to make available “the strong descriptive work necessary for anyone to start anew with Silence and discover for oneself what Silence provides".
All that sounds good, and as such I expected the book to develop our capacity to observe and pay attention to the inner world, call it consciousness, mind, soul, or whatever. In reality the author leads the reader on a bizarre tour of his own unintelligible experiences and untenable claims. I suppose I should have seen this coming with the reference to "anthroposophy", based as it is on the pseudo-scientific/religious imaginations of Rudolph Steiner. Here are some examples:
"Gradually, the vast interiority begins to differentiate itself “as if” spirit beings are present, and we can discern different qualities among them"
"One of the basic qualities of these currents is a pulsating motion—a motion, not something that is in motion, for silence is not spatial…It is not exactly like being stroked either, because the pulsating movement is more like a friendly phantom, or even an angel, contacting and moving through us. A second basic quality of the currents of Silence as interiority-felt-exteriorly is the quality of whirling."
Sardello claims that these descriptions are only helpful if not taken literally. "It is important that we not look for these qualities of pulsing, whirling, and layering but simply notice gradually that Silence has complex characteristics". Sure. But then why go into such detail and assume that the reader’s imagination leads to similar “sense-feelings”? And to what purpose? Most troubling is the impression that the despite the “don’t take this literally” disclaimer, the author really does believe in some kind of an esoteric reality, including among other things, clairvoyance, astrology, astral planes and “non-brain-bound consciousness". While I don’t consider myself a materialist reductionist, it seems that profound cosmic significance is being attributed to what in the end are no more than convoluted mind games.
However, I'm willing to acknowledge that I've missed something and that due to my lack of patience I’ve failed to take the imaginative leap required to engage with “the Silence”. Although Sardello might suggest that the “guardians of Silence” are keeping me at bay until I’ve attained a higher level of refinement. Maybe one day I'll give it a look, if these mysterious forces permit me.
I was interested in the reference to Henry Corbin, French philosopher and scholar of Islamic mysticism.
Both the Introduction (by one of the author’s breathlessly ardent disciples), and the various contributions by Cheryl Sanders-Sardello, are utterly unbearable.
October 31, 2025
Extraordinary
January 3, 2011
Perhaps it is the frame of mind I was in at the time of reading this book... Valley Fever had caught up with me again, so I was unable to do much of anything but read, meditation, sleep and dream. This book changed my vision of life through connection and the dance with the deep sense and reality of the Silence. Rich texture with a understanding of the nuances of the stillness, that quiet moments when the mind wanders off into another space and time. I felt the Silence with its invitation, guardians, healing and such. I haven't really left the Silence. It touched my heart and soul and I reread this book each year since I first did in 2004, when I was gifted this book from a vendor at the Tucson Gem/Mineral Show.
Somehow it may be that gift that gave me another gift of interacting with the Silence. Robert Sardello reflects the many aspects of the Silence through the powerful deliver of chapters to deep interpretations of the states of meditation and the space of peace, quiet and blank slate of all that is.
If there was one book or at least on the top five books to read when entering and continuing one spiritual journey within, I would recommend or gift this book to them. I have given this book to many friends who I felt appreciated the vast space of the Silence. The foundation built upon this book is solid and brings the nuance and paradox of the spiritual journey in a fine writing and insightful introspections upon the elements and dance of the silence. As a spiritual teacher, I have assisted many on their inner vision quest and here it the best place to enter, refresh and connect to a truth within truths.
Anyone who is too logic or unable to release the mind of mundane questions will not like this book as it is an adventure into the unknown and untouchable realms. It brings another view of the illusion of life into this one. It opens the curious to a place of reflection, understanding and refinement of the endless possibilities, with the connection of all that is and brings to the heart a new way of being.
If entering the space of dreams and reflections, with the unveiling of the layers within the heart and soul is something you are looking for, this book will take you to that place of adventure without leaving your house...or do you? enjoy and peace~
Somehow it may be that gift that gave me another gift of interacting with the Silence. Robert Sardello reflects the many aspects of the Silence through the powerful deliver of chapters to deep interpretations of the states of meditation and the space of peace, quiet and blank slate of all that is.
If there was one book or at least on the top five books to read when entering and continuing one spiritual journey within, I would recommend or gift this book to them. I have given this book to many friends who I felt appreciated the vast space of the Silence. The foundation built upon this book is solid and brings the nuance and paradox of the spiritual journey in a fine writing and insightful introspections upon the elements and dance of the silence. As a spiritual teacher, I have assisted many on their inner vision quest and here it the best place to enter, refresh and connect to a truth within truths.
Anyone who is too logic or unable to release the mind of mundane questions will not like this book as it is an adventure into the unknown and untouchable realms. It brings another view of the illusion of life into this one. It opens the curious to a place of reflection, understanding and refinement of the endless possibilities, with the connection of all that is and brings to the heart a new way of being.
If entering the space of dreams and reflections, with the unveiling of the layers within the heart and soul is something you are looking for, this book will take you to that place of adventure without leaving your house...or do you? enjoy and peace~
July 11, 2019
Really great book. A classic for me. I have ordered a few to hand out. Sardello writes from his experience and commitment to his practice. This book includes a wealth of wisdom including his wife’s prose and poetic additions. Its certainly a book that I find inspiring and that points me in an authentic direction and is most definitely an ongoing resource that I return to.
November 19, 2020
Not easy to read, but a beautiful introduction to the beauty and richness of silence. I would say that this book will help people who already have a practice of silence and meditation, but is too abstract for someone who is interested to discover it without a former experience of it.
August 14, 2025
We are surrounded by silence, but what is that silence? Sardello explores this silence, pointing out that it is much more than just an absence of sound. It’s t he normal condition of the universe and one can enter into it. As he puts it, “Silence is not emptiness but an alert unfocusing focus on subtle rhythms that join our interiority to the natural world.
It’s a spiritual practice, but not one that is necessarily religious in nature, that is to say. a seeking of some transcendent union. It can coexist with religion and with meditative practices, but there is no aim of promoting peace, tranquility, or any kind of exterior good. It might make you feel better, but it does not depend upon any sense of purpose.
He compares it to listening to the sound of symphonic music. We may go to a symphony expecting to get pleasure from it, but once hearing the sound, there is no reason for being there except for the music itself. We don’t feel we need to “receive” something as though it were therapeutic. It exists for its own sake.
Entering into silence means a paradox. In talking about it we use words, constructs that are formed in our intellects, our brains. But the realm of silence is not an intellectual one. That realm is stimulated by external objects, the sensations that flood into our nervous systems through our five senses and which we generally try to comprehend by using language.
All Sardello can do is to use metaphors to hint at states of consciousness that transcend words. For example he uses images of the head and the heart. The head uses abstractions to make sense of the world. The heart, not the physical one, but an interior one, senses primarily a feeling of deep reverence. It’s reverence for a universal silence from which all the emanations of the head are just brief interludes.
The author thinks there are three aspects of this reverence, and these, I suppose for lack of better terminology, he calls “spiritual.” They consist of inherent worship, service, and healing. Again, while these may sound religious in nature, Sardello finds them built into the nature of silence, and while we are in this state, we feel their presence in intuitive ways. Obviously difficult to explain, and only through practice can they be experienced, and then only for brief periods as our “heads” constantly break in with external thoughts of daily life.
As for how to begin to experience true silence, the advice is similar to that of much meditative practice - silent surroundings, remaining still, darkness achieved by closing of the eyes, but at first any experience of silence will be a brief one before the “concepts” of the intellect break in. Again emphasis is that incorporating silence, even if it’s tentative and brief, is simply a natural activity worth doing in itself.
It’s a spiritual practice, but not one that is necessarily religious in nature, that is to say. a seeking of some transcendent union. It can coexist with religion and with meditative practices, but there is no aim of promoting peace, tranquility, or any kind of exterior good. It might make you feel better, but it does not depend upon any sense of purpose.
He compares it to listening to the sound of symphonic music. We may go to a symphony expecting to get pleasure from it, but once hearing the sound, there is no reason for being there except for the music itself. We don’t feel we need to “receive” something as though it were therapeutic. It exists for its own sake.
Entering into silence means a paradox. In talking about it we use words, constructs that are formed in our intellects, our brains. But the realm of silence is not an intellectual one. That realm is stimulated by external objects, the sensations that flood into our nervous systems through our five senses and which we generally try to comprehend by using language.
All Sardello can do is to use metaphors to hint at states of consciousness that transcend words. For example he uses images of the head and the heart. The head uses abstractions to make sense of the world. The heart, not the physical one, but an interior one, senses primarily a feeling of deep reverence. It’s reverence for a universal silence from which all the emanations of the head are just brief interludes.
The author thinks there are three aspects of this reverence, and these, I suppose for lack of better terminology, he calls “spiritual.” They consist of inherent worship, service, and healing. Again, while these may sound religious in nature, Sardello finds them built into the nature of silence, and while we are in this state, we feel their presence in intuitive ways. Obviously difficult to explain, and only through practice can they be experienced, and then only for brief periods as our “heads” constantly break in with external thoughts of daily life.
As for how to begin to experience true silence, the advice is similar to that of much meditative practice - silent surroundings, remaining still, darkness achieved by closing of the eyes, but at first any experience of silence will be a brief one before the “concepts” of the intellect break in. Again emphasis is that incorporating silence, even if it’s tentative and brief, is simply a natural activity worth doing in itself.
October 20, 2011
The Goodreads review accompanying the duplication of the book cover is a good summary of the experience of reading Sardello's volume. Deceptively short, full of meaning, for me "Silence" was a sleeper, an unexpected powerhouse of relevance. The last 4 chapters (6,7,8,and 9) were similar to a few esoteric writings I had read several years ago, but Sardello's fluency and ability to describe obscure processes in clear minded terms is truly impressive. I particularly enjoyed reading "Making a Clearing for Silence" and "The Silence of the Heart." His reflections on prayer were helpful and more succinct than I have read at any time past.
November 27, 2015
The kind of book I finish and just want to start reading again immediately.
May 12, 2020
It has not been an easy reading at all. Some shockingly clear explanations to very elusive experiences appear mixed amongst concepts that I'm unable to grasp the slightest meaning from.
This is a book to be reread when I grow up. Just I'm unsure I've got sufficient years left to grow enough to really understand it.
Anyway, thanks to this reading, now I'm consciously enjoying the peaceful feeling of my heart beats while my fingers slide silently over my cellphone screen to compose this modest review.
This is a book to be reread when I grow up. Just I'm unsure I've got sufficient years left to grow enough to really understand it.
Anyway, thanks to this reading, now I'm consciously enjoying the peaceful feeling of my heart beats while my fingers slide silently over my cellphone screen to compose this modest review.
January 9, 2018
Read with a Centering Prayer group, this book was used as teaching reflection to accompany our weekly activity. While at times, the work seemed incredibly wordy, the group discussions of the chapters showed us all a deepening progression of our understanding of the role of Silence in our spiritual path.
Read
July 21, 2024Much of this book seemed beyond my grasp, but I have the sense it perhaps is just not the right time for me to understand it. I did appreciate the final chapter on silence, prayer, and meditation. The exercise in the chapter on praying prayers slowly, pausing between each word, was meaningful. I may return to the book and reread it down the road.
April 25, 2018
Will be rereading, exploring and savouring the profound challenges and wisdom here again and again. A first reading for 'information' about silence could scarcely begin to mine the meaning or the treasures here, as Sardello tells the reader so clearly.
February 28, 2018
Finding Silence
Moving from believing to Knowing is the essence of Silence. One will need to be deeply thoughtful and reflective while reading each of the 124 pages.
Moving from believing to Knowing is the essence of Silence. One will need to be deeply thoughtful and reflective while reading each of the 124 pages.
December 31, 2018
I had a hard time with this one. Maybe because I was impatient, trying to finish it to meet my reading challenge ha ha.
September 3, 2019
Not worth your time.
October 12, 2019
Insightful,transforming,
It is without a question the most helpful guide to enlightenment/ finding one’s true wholeness I have read in my 80 year quest!
It is without a question the most helpful guide to enlightenment/ finding one’s true wholeness I have read in my 80 year quest!
October 21, 2019
This expanded my understanding of silence at a much deeper level. When integrating this into relationships broadens the holy envelop surrounding us and pushes our praying further into the cosmos!
February 3, 2020
Enveloping Presence
Letting go of our our certainties becomes an invitation in a way that dissolves the imperativeness of finding a way.
Letting go of our our certainties becomes an invitation in a way that dissolves the imperativeness of finding a way.
June 25, 2020
Had to read for school, some OK concepts but also a little alt/new wave-y.
June 1, 2021
Silence, not just silence, is a stand-in for the qualities of God in this spiritual prose; Silence as Presence.
Read
June 26, 2021While this is coming from a quite different place conceptually from the larger contemplative tradition I’m part of, I found it interesting — and chapters 7 & 8 offer some linking practices.
October 31, 2021
I never thought a book about silence could be so captivating. Silence IS a presence and sound is the absence of this presence.
February 22, 2022
Weird. Not bad. Not good. Just different.
March 1, 2022
Difficult. Deep. Full of more. I know I don’t get most of it, but want to continue to come back to it to learn more.
November 2, 2022
One of the most important reads for me so far
January 26, 2023
Definitivamente es una mezcolanza del tema del silencio con New Age. Lo menos que tiene es de psicología espiritual y de la práctica hermosa del silencio. Puedo ser muchísimo mejor.
August 18, 2020
Beautiful grace-filled book
October 18, 2015
A remarkable book on silence, probably one of the most unusual books I have ever read on this topic. Sardello recognizes in the very first sentence of his book that all spiritual traditions value silence. However, because he does not identify with any particular religion or spiritual persuasion, his influence is likely far more broad than if he was simply targeting a Christian audience. It is only in the very last chapter where he even mentions prayer by name and allows for the prayer of words to take its place within the broader spectrum of silence. It is then that he allows for prayer that is directed to Christ or God.
Although the author draws many parallels to centering prayer and mindfulness (while never specifically mentioning either of them), the particular practices of silence that he introduces seem unique. His book is based not so much on theory but on his experience as a researcher and practitioner of silence for over 35 years, the last 23 in the School of Spiritual Psychology which he co-founded.
Sardello guides the reader through the many pitfalls of an ego-driven self-referential consciousness that will always be the primary barrier to penetrating the deep riches of silence where true presence is discovered. In so doing he targets what has become over the past decade one of my greatest sources of disillusionment with so much of contemporary prayer that resembles the ego-inflating prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18.
I'm not really sure what the lasting impact will be on me from having read this book - a book that seems to have also captured the attention of other partners in my contemplative spiritual community of Soulstream. A number of us have agreed to read and discuss this book over the next couple of months. I await with a sense of anticipation the further impact this book will have on each of us as we experience it together in community.
Although the author draws many parallels to centering prayer and mindfulness (while never specifically mentioning either of them), the particular practices of silence that he introduces seem unique. His book is based not so much on theory but on his experience as a researcher and practitioner of silence for over 35 years, the last 23 in the School of Spiritual Psychology which he co-founded.
Sardello guides the reader through the many pitfalls of an ego-driven self-referential consciousness that will always be the primary barrier to penetrating the deep riches of silence where true presence is discovered. In so doing he targets what has become over the past decade one of my greatest sources of disillusionment with so much of contemporary prayer that resembles the ego-inflating prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18.
I'm not really sure what the lasting impact will be on me from having read this book - a book that seems to have also captured the attention of other partners in my contemplative spiritual community of Soulstream. A number of us have agreed to read and discuss this book over the next couple of months. I await with a sense of anticipation the further impact this book will have on each of us as we experience it together in community.
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