What do silence and solitude have to do with spirituality and Christian faith? There is a long and rich tradition of seeking in silence the Divine and self-discernment within Christianity. This sort of practice developed a lot in the 3rd-5th centuries with the rise of monasticism in Christianity. One of the earliest desert monks wrote extensively about a concept called hesychia, which is practicing a deep inner stillness and silence. Hesychia isn’t just about finding a quiet environment or a place without distractions. It is about cultivating a profound inner tranquility and quietness in your soul. Much of the practice of hesychia has to do with wrestling the endless stream of thoughts that flood into our mind, which if we are not careful of and paying attention to, can be relentlessly noisy and drown out all shimmers of silence and stillness in ourselves. With increasing practice of contemplative prayer and […]