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essence
November 2009 
Filling in the silence
Posted on Feb 21st, 2009
by 
Meenakshi
Meenakshi
"If you can't understand my silence, you can't understand my words," my husband quoted to me one day.
This at first foxed me, and then seemed one of those clever things one says to impress. But it kept coming to me through the years.
And suddenly it comes up again.
As friends or co-members on Gaia, there is just a part of what we are thinking or feeling that we'll actually type out.
Only a few times out of the many that we think of each other, that we'll go out and shout out or message each other.
Only a few of the thoughts that we keep sending each other, that we'll actually get down to typing and sending.
What do you, as someone who knows me on Gaia, fill into those silences between when I reach out and don't; what I say and don't; what I do and don't do?
How do you fill in those silences? The ones that are active with thought, feelings and unformed movement of ether?
Do you fill those silences with the essence of me or the essence of you?
When I fill in those spaces between you expressed and you unexpressed, I see a reflection of me and what I know or intuit about you.
There's a lot in that silent space and how we fill it, that defines what Gaia is being.
This at first foxed me, and then seemed one of those clever things one says to impress. But it kept coming to me through the years.
And suddenly it comes up again.
As friends or co-members on Gaia, there is just a part of what we are thinking or feeling that we'll actually type out.
Only a few times out of the many that we think of each other, that we'll go out and shout out or message each other.
Only a few of the thoughts that we keep sending each other, that we'll actually get down to typing and sending.
What do you, as someone who knows me on Gaia, fill into those silences between when I reach out and don't; what I say and don't; what I do and don't do?
How do you fill in those silences? The ones that are active with thought, feelings and unformed movement of ether?
Do you fill those silences with the essence of me or the essence of you?
When I fill in those spaces between you expressed and you unexpressed, I see a reflection of me and what I know or intuit about you.
There's a lot in that silent space and how we fill it, that defines what Gaia is being.
Access: Public
your words are but a clue. A small puzzle part to your personality. Your essence is in the silence.
Incredible insights Meenakshi…thank you.
Maze, perhaps “your essence is in my silence” ? Or mine in my reading of yours?
Helen, those…. hold thoughts that perhaps you will pen one day.
Meenakshi, I love that quote. It underlines what in days gone by I often felt, but never could find words for.
This silence between words among gaians, to me it is the same silence that fills the gaps between communications with real-world friends/family. I have known silences to last for years and not regretted the absence of words nor forgotten the silent voices. I have felt the unexpressed, kicking in the womb. And when words are freed at last, I have felt as if there had been no gap in communications.
Do you fill those silences with the essence of me or the essence of you?
I fill them, feel them, with the essence of ‘we.’ Not a we that I could articulate necessarily, but one that my heart knows and recognizes and welcomes home.
Silence can be and often is, so much deeper than words.
In silence everything can be understood, if one is willing to listen. In contrast, how often do words get in the way of what is meant?
I feel the connection being on Gaia or being offline… even I miss for weeks to write or comment, my silence is melting in your hearts, and I can always come back… We are finally One… In silence or words…
Ruth, how beautifully you have extended the ideas expressed. Filling in that silence and bringing in meaning.
Well, we both posted at the same time, Asteri! We were silently commenting on this blog at the same time!!!
“I” don’t fill the silence with the essence of you, it’s just that the essence of you appears to me. And then I write, and then I doubt, and then I maintain silence! That’s just the humanity doubting. It’s the one who gets in the way, second-guessing herself. What is the “essence of me”? Soul, spirit, mind, heart? (of course, a rhetorical question!)
You have a very deep post here, Meenakshi. And a quizzler of a quote at the beginning. Thanks.
Interesting thoughts. Something that I have been thinking about sometimes, too. Compared to many other super active members here I think I am silent more often than I actually say something. I browse around Gaia a lot. I read a lot of blogs, look at pictures and profiles and see who’s online when I am. I check out hot and new stuff and I visit groups to look at the discussions going on. But most of the time, I’m silent. Observing… I think about Gaia and its members a lot, try to figure out who they are, what there personality is like, listen to what they are saying, watch how they react to others. But often, I feel like I can’t join in, almost as though I was paralized. So I just keep silent.
Silence and Action…..can be two sides of the same coin. as expressed so beautyfully in Japanese culture. Deepest silence is even more than simply peace of mind.
its the causal shift of attention the Jnanis are speaking about. In One Taste (Sahaja Samadhi) even more.
Then there are cycles in live where big barriers (iner and outer ones) create deep blind spots. And all of a sudden this can be seen. Thats the beauty of so called second half of the life. But it can occur at any moment.
Artists know about the tidal waves of reception, incubation and expression. They simply follow them.
And so its all about the silent pulses of life and kosmos in us.
George leoanrd wrote this very deeply felt book:
The Silent Pulse
Silence has more power than words. Ramana Maharishi is an example for that. we wil welcome silence too more for energy.
Sound and silence, both parts of the same cosmic symphony. I try not to fill in the silent spaces … but you know the monkey mind, constantly trying to do just that. Yes, the meaning and understanding of silence even says that we are filling in the silence.
What a beautiful and thoughtful post, Meenakshi. In the silence between you and I, I have heard your symphony of silent spaces, the beauty of who you are. ;-D
Gorgeous blog. It makes me remember exactly why I Am here. To read words that come from Spirit through another…. what a joy and a pleasure. I am very grateful we are connected, whether we write the words or just feel the silence. xx
The silence reverberates with delightful sounds, wise words, informative links.
Thank you!
I think that silence is incredible; in that I endorse it totally. Indeed a silent communication can really be powerful, don’t you think? The [sometimes unintentional] connections here and elsewhere, which could only be deemed as psychic, are some of the greatest evidence that we are in fact merely playing on a big spiritual field. Our expressed words, I think, would never compare to the impacts of such events.
In your absence, I recall the essence of Meenakshi, and I feel quite pleasant and encouraged, to know that you are ‘out there’, just doing your thing. I also hope that you are well and functioning in peace. Perhaps this is a function of my way of thinking, but I do wish you the best in what you’re doing, be it here, online, or away.
I do hope [actually I know!] you wish the same for me :D
Peace, blessings, love, Sherrilene
Do you fill those silences with the essence of me or the essence of you?
Yes? By this I mean, does it have to be either/or? At what point in Infinity do we merge into the Unity and in our differences shout that Unity in our individual personas? Silence is empty of me and you and it shouts me and you.
This post made me feel your heart. Overall, it generated silence. Thanks for it. Burl
I think sometimes the silence is filled with me and sometimes filled with you and sometimes filled with a blending together of me/you. That it’s so often a dance, and sometimes the dance is full and sometimes empty. This is a really wonderful thoughtful post. Do we really know another person just from the little blips of communication? For that matter, do we really know ourselves? We perhaps only know the small blips coming in through the Silence. When I fill in those spaces between you expressed and you unexpressed, I see a reflection of me and what I know or intuit about you. So very true. Thank you for making so many of us think (or silence) even deeper, Meenakshi.
I agree; what great thoughts!
Honestly? When I am not on Gaia or have not heard from someone due to a “pause” … everyone I have encountered on this site fills my thoughts. I’m a daydreamer.. and I spend my time daydreaming about what it would be like to connect with people …. in the flesh.. through voice… or just a written “hello.”
In my heart, there are no pauses… just time to stop and think.
Rachel, like you, I tend to “talk” to people I know, in my thought; some of them even “get it”. Those who don’t, get upset because I didn’t call them or meet them or write to them.
flowing to you, Burl: very true. how to divide essence into “me” or “you”? And yet, isn’t it something that we do have colors of the rainbow? at least at some level, it does seem that way sometimes.
Kathy, your words remind me of how a snapshot is just that: a moment in time that, because it was captured, seems to suggest that we have “caught” the person. The word suggesting that we have caught the thought. It really is a wonder how words even make sense, coming as they do from an ever-flowing source. Or is it that stillness that somehow gives it meaning even when we are unaware of it?
Thank you for the way you explained absence and presence; words and silence, Sherri.
With these words, I feel I’m bobbing on the waves of that ocean in my icon!
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” — Aldous Huxley
Of incredible beauty this blog. Thank you.
In the silence that will follow these words I type please find an open pulsating heart touching yours gently.
If we go deep enough into the silence only to find one beat, one mind, one heart.
It's art. Like the ocean waves reaching and withdrawing. An artist withdraws and then comes back and reaches in a new unit of time. Each thing we all create upon together summarizes the different qualities of the sounds perceived from our writing and the times of silence to feel the pieces for our own interpretations of what's needed in each moment.
When you are silent Meenakshi, you are a leader like siona and when you don't post I sense something is not going optimumly on Gaia Networking but I understand that we all balance our other duties with this site and know you are ok. More of your communications always handle when there is no activity as you lead and plus you have the depth of viewpoint to help all members.
Dear Lee, whenever you feel my silence results in “something is not going optimumly” I trust that wonderful people like you will step in. Thank you Kathy, for explaining in art what I felt in words.