There are a lot of reasons why I need contemplative silence in my spiritual life.
I am an intellectual. Christian intellectuals have a role to play in the life of the Church and the world. We do a lot of the heavy lifting that others (often mercifully) don't have to do. There is a downside though, we are often always talking and we frequently get the point where we simply love to hear our own voices. Philosophy and Theology can become "mental masturbation" as my friend put it. Silence reminds us to shut up.
I am a Musician. Musicians love music and we love being heard playing music. I am no exception. I have done music for the approval of others and for my own enjoyment. Bad thing? Of course not. Yet like being an intellectual, it is often a mixed bag when it comes to one's relation to God. Do I need a worship CD -whether that be Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vespers
or rock-worship on a Sunday night to see God? The answer, when I think about it carefully, is no.I am an Incurable Extrovert. I am often to outgoing for my own good. Maintaining friendships is so important to me that I often do not know when to say "no." I am the first to assert that our encounters with God are rightly also encounters with other people -most specifically those Christians whom we pray, eat, and live with. Yet still, this does not mean that I can ignore times of reflection on the life of Christ or on the psalms or whatever else might be guiding my prayer life.
Learning how to shut up and listen, even when bored, is an on going process for me.
