Silence is not the first language of God; Experiencing is the language of God.

D. Carroll

It has been said “God’s first language is Silence;” This famous quote has been attributed to St. John of the Cross and Father Thomas Keating, Keating elaborating further; “Silence is God's first language; everything else is a poor translation.”  Is It?

Is that the case? In many spiritual traditions the universe was created by God speaking, i.e. In the Bible, Genesis: and God said, “Let there be light,” … And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” … Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, these are just a few excerpts from Biblical creation. Then there is the word, Om (Aum), it is considered the elemental sound of the creation of the universe encompassing all of creation, existence, and consciousness. Another example from ancient Egypt is “Hu” (ḥw), it was the creative utterance, the deification of the first word, the word of creation. These are examples of God speaking for creation. The Bible makes a further point of it in John 1 King James Version;1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, often referred to as the “Logos”. It certainly seems, with these examples, particularly with “in the beginning was the Word”, there was speaking/sound.

Science itself is theorizing the creation of the universe, came from a “singularity” (Oneness) and was created from an expansion called “The Big Bang Theory” (Cosmic Microwave background), originally and interestingly put forth by a Belgian Catholic priest, mathematician and physicist, Georges Édouard Lemaître.  Creation through the expansion of sound (vibration).

The cosmic microwave background is remarkably uniform over the entire sky, but tiny variations reveal the imprints of sound waves triggered by quantum fluctuations in the universe just moments after it was born. These imprints, appearing as splotches in the Planck map, are the seeds from which matter grew, forming stars and galaxies.

Universe Older Than Previously Thought                                Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA Planck spacecraft project.

Both spiritual philosophies and science put forth that creation came from sound.

So, can the documentation of spiritual philosophies and science putting forth creation came from sound be reconciled with the metaphors of “Silence is God's first language” and God’s first language is silence; everything else is a poor translation.”? I believe the answer is yes.

My answer may be considered nuanced, yet it broadens and still encompasses the concept of God’s language being silence and still one of sound/speaking/vibrations.

Rather than the metaphor of God’s first language being silence, that on its surface, is like a paradoxical Zen koan, it may be stated as God’s first language is experiencing. Words are birthed in and from experience. Experiencing also transcends words. It leads to silence, but does not originate in silence., experiencing cannot truly be put into words, words would be a “poor translation.”

As an example, consider the Grand Canyon or any personal awing experience. You could read the greatest word smith’s depiction of the Grand Canyon or see pictures and videos of the Grand Canyon that could be inspiring, or of any such event. Yet, these would pale compared to going and “experiencing” for yourself the Grand Canyon. It is the experiencing of it that goes so far beyond any words or pictures. In experiencing the awe, we would want to share the awe with others in words, symbols, or images and yes, it will be a poor translation of the experience, but one with hope for others experiencing. We would also resonate with others with such experiencing where words would not be needed.

 

 

From this perspective silence is not the first language of God; experiencing is the first language of God; everything else is a poor translation. Embrace the experiencing.