14.9.1999
Dearest,
You know how strongly Eastern philosophies emphasise the state of emptiness. And the closest one can get to experience the ’emptiness’ is when s/he can appreciate the silence…
“Listen to the silence between each toll of the bell”, says Zen Master to his student, as no sound can be heard if there were no silence.
If words are clouds, silence is the sky. Clouds come in various forms –in constant change every moment, they gather or disperse, some shelter the light, some let it pass. They stay happy and smiling for a while, but, suddenly, frown and cry to the world!
But the sky is always there –an indifferent bosom to the clouds! It bears them all and, yet, remains unaffected, unchanged. The sky is the ‘absolute’ for the clouds, just as the silence is to the crowd of words…
Khalil Gibran says,
“The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather to what he does not say. “
So, if and when it happens, I would love your silence, too. You are most welcome both with what you say and what you don’t, both with your sound and your silence.
Love always,
Güneş