This book of full of golden nuggets.

Found this brilliant quote on Instagram...

“Our world no longer hears God because it is constantly speaking, at a devastating speed and volume, in order to say nothing.

“Modern civilization does not know how to be quiet. It holds forth in an unending monologue. Postmodern society rejects the past and looks at the present as a cheap consumer object; it pictures the future in terms of an almost obsessive progress. Its dream, which has become a sad reality, will have been to lock silence away in a damp, dark dungeon.

“Thus there is a dictatorship of speech, a dictatorship of verbal emphasis. In this theater of shadows, nothing is left but a purulent wound of mechanical words, without perspective, without truth, and without foundation. Quite often “truth” is nothing more than the pure and misleading creation of the media, corroborated by fabricated images and testimonies. When that happens, the word of God fades away, inaccessible and inaudible. Postmodernity is an ongoing offense and aggression against the divine silence.

“From morning to evening, from evening to morning, silence no longer has any place at all; the noise tries to prevent God himself from speaking. In this hell of noise, man disintegrates and is lost; he is broken up into countless worries, fantasies, and fears. In order to get out of these depressing tunnels, he desperately awaits noise so that it will bring him a few consolations.

“Noise is a deceptive, addictive, and false tranquilizer. The tragedy of our world is never better summed up than in the fury of senseless noise that stubbornly hates silence.

“This age detests the things that silence brings us to: encounter, wonder, and kneeling before God. Even in the schools, silence has disappeared. And yet how can anyone study in the midst of noise? How can you read in noise? How can you train your intellect in noise? How can you structure your thought and the contours of your interior being in noise? How can you be open to the mystery of God, to spiritual values, and to our human greatness in continual turmoil?

“Contemplative silence is a fragile little flame in the middle of a raging ocean.”

The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise

By Cardinal Robert Sarah

ENGLISH: A good book that delves us into the mystery of silence. The Cardinal is a disciple of Benedict XVI, a clear reference in current theology. There is talk of true silence, that of the soul, which has little to do with physical silence or that of oriental techniques. It is the silence of love, which is much deeper. This is Christian silence. Words are not enough. He is the one with a mother when he listens to his son or when you accompany a sick friend in the hospital. The Cardinal gives guidelines to achieve this silence, always from the Christian orbit. Describe the difficulties in reaching him in today's society.

Review in Spanish at this blog post.

ESPAÑOL: Un buen libro que nos adentra en el misterio del silencio. El Cardenal es discípulo de Benedicto XVI, claro referente en la teología actual. Se habla del verdadero silencio, el del alma, que poco tiene que ver con el silencio físico o el de las técnicas orientales. Es el silencio del amor, que es mucho más profundo. Esto es el silencio cristiano. Las palabras no bastan. Es el que tiene una madre cuando escucha a su hijo o cuando acompañas en el hospital a un amigo enfermo. El Cardenal da pautas para conseguir este silencio, siempre desde la órbita cristiana. Describe las dificultades para llegar a él en la sociedad actual.

Más detalles en esta entrada de mi blog.
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El cardenal Sarah afronta en estas páginas la necesidad del silencio interior para escuchar la música de Dios, para que brote y se desarrolle la oración confiada con Él. El ruido nos impone su dictadura un día y otro, hasta el punto de que rara vez añoramos el silencio. Sin embargo, el ruido genera el desconcierto del hombre, mientras que en el silencio se forja nuestro ser personal, nuestra propia identidad. Tras el éxito internacional de Dios o nada, el cardenal Sarah afronta en estas páginas la necesidad del silencio interior para escuchar la música de Dios, para que brote y se desarrolle la oración confiada con Él, para entablar relaciones cabales con nuestros allegados. "La verdadera revolución -afirma- viene del silencio, que nos conduce hacia Dios y los demás, para colocarnos humildemente a su servicio". De nuevo en esta larga y profunda conversación con Nicolás Diat, el Cardenal propone la siguiente pregunta: ¿pueden aquellos que no conocen el silencio alcanzar la verdad, la belleza y el amor? La respuesta es innegable: todo lo que es grande y creativo está relacionado con el silencio. Casa del Libro

"Se le nostre intelligenze non sanno più fermare gli occhi, se non sappiamo più tacere, allora saremo privati del mistero, della sua luce che è al là delle tenebre, della sua bellezza che è oltre ogni bellezza. Senza il mistero, siamo ridotti alla banalità delle cose terrene. Spesso mi chiedo se la tristezza delle società urbane occidentali, in cui dilaga la depressione, il suicidio e il disagio morale, non derivi dalla perdita del senso del mistero. Perdendo la capacità di fare silenzio davanti al mistero, gli uomini si privano delle sorgenti della gioia. In effetti, si ritrovano soli al mondo, senza niente che li superi e li sostenga ..."

"La civiltà moderna non sa tacere. Continua sempre nel suo monologo.. La società postmoderna rifiuta il passato e guarda al presente come un mero oggetto di consumo; vede il futuro attravreso i raggi di un progresso pressocchè ossessivo. Il suo sogno, divenuto triste realtà, era di rinchiudere il silenzio in una prigione umida e scura.

C'è ormai una dittatura della parola, una dittatura dell'enfasi verbale. In questo teatro di ombre, non rimane che una ferita purulenta di parole meccaniche, senza valore, senza verità e senza fondamento. Molto spesso, la verità non è altro che una pura e mendace creazione mediatica corroborata da immagini e testimonianze prefabbricate. E la parola di Dio, quindi è oscurata, resa inaccessibile e inudibile. La postmodernità è un'offesa e un'aggressione permanente contro il silenzio divino. Dalla mattina alla sera e dalla sera alla mattina il silenzio non ha più alcun diritto; il rumore vuole impedire a Dio stesso di parlare. In questo inferno di rumore, l'uomo si disgrega e si perde; è frammentato in altrettante inquietudini, fantasmi e paure.

Per uscire da questi tunnel depressivi, l'uomo desidera disperatamente il rumore perchè gli dia qualche consolazione. Il rumore è un ansiolitico ingannatore, che dà assuefazione, è menzognero. Il dramma del nostro mndo non si potrà mai comprendere che nel furore di un rumore privo di senso che odia ostinatamente il silenzio. Quest'epoca detesta ciò a cui ci porta il silenzio: l'incontro, lo stupore e l'inginocchiarsi davanti a Dio."
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The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise is a good book but it's subtitle is misleading. It should read the Carthusian Way. This is a book mostly in praise of the Carthusian monastic rule of silence, which is it's focus. There's nothing wrong with that it just wasn't what I expected. Cardinal Sarah did address society's overexposure to media, electronic noise, and the cacophony of modern life, but mostly in passing.

Another difficulty I had was Cardinal Sarah didn't define "silence" until very late in the book so I had trouble understanding. Early on, I began substituting the word "stillness" for silence and that helped.

I recommend this book to anyone interested understanding monastic spirituality. It was a good book, just not what I hoped for. ( )

The Power of Silence is the much anticipated follow up to Cardinal Sarah's memoir God or Nothing (if you haven't read that, stop what you're doing and go read it now—it's a life-changing book). In this volume, his focus is on the importance of silence, a virtue which has seemingly been discarded by modern society as useless or boring. In response, he and his trusty interviewer/sidekick, French journalist Nicolas Diat, explore the meaning and purose of silence as well as the venerable Carthusian Order—a monastic order in which silence plays a major role in daily life. The end of the book includes a discussion between Cardinal Sarah, Diat, and the Prior of Grande Charteuse about the order and about silence. A necessary book, and one I can highly recommend to anyone with an interest in the subject or in Cardinal Sarah. ( )