The Challenge and the Goal

 Bernadette Roberts

What I learned is that silence itself is a way of knowing, for in this silence I eventually learned everything I ever needed to know. I also learned that it was not always easy to remain in silence or do so for any length of time. This, then, was the challenge — the practice. The goal of course, was to make the perfect match between myself and the Divine, and though I knew I could never match the silence that the Divine could bring about, from my side I could be ready and waiting. 

In time I learned to ignore my roving mind and focus instead on the silent will, which, by contrast to the mind, was steadfast, non-moving, silent, glued to the Divine as to the stillpoint of being. It was obvious that my true oneness with God was not mental, not dependent upon whether or not I could think of Him all the time; rather it was my will that was the silent energy center of my whole being, and, like an umbilical cord, was somehow attached to the Divine.

Essays on the Christian Contemplative Journey, Chapter: Eucharist