POWER OF SOUND

A SOUND or a word, rendered alive by the power of the spirit and spoken within us will make a deeper impression on the mind than that which reaches us thru the ear. The voice of the soul in its own kingdom is more powerful than the voice of the mouth. The speaking of God is a creative act, in the microcosm of man not any less than in the macrocosm of nature. His word is the life of all things, on the material and spiritual planes; it causes the generation of visible growths and in the heart of man his spiritual regeneration.

Sound being such a tremendous power, it being very life itself, it naturally follows that it ought not to be wasted, but preserved and cumulated. Every power grows by resistance. If we resist the impulse to talk and to spend our forces unnecessarily, we gather strength and obtain control over them.

This is the power of silence. Fools talk too much, heroes speak in their deeds. Great talkers are usually weak-minded people who accomplish nothing, great men know how to act and be silent. He who by practice has learned to control himself may control others. It is known that Apollonius of Tyana kept absolutely silent for seven years. During that time he subdued an insurrection of the people without speaking a word. His presence told them enough and was sufficient to quiet the rebels.

If men and women had a higher conception of human nature and of the purpose of life, they would avoid wasting their power in idle talk, empty gossip and foolish conversation, and there would consequently be a great deal less nervousness, neurasthenia and insanity. Silence and solitude is nature’s law for development. The child grows in the stillness and solitude of the mother’s womb. The highest thoughts are born during moments of deep meditation; spiritual regeneration can take place only when the passions are at rest; the seed in the soil needs stillness and the dark for its development, it dies if too much disturbed. But stillness and the dark would be of no benefit if the seed were not nourished by the life-giving influences penetrating it, as the child in the womb would die if it were not partaking of the life of its mother. Persons born dumb have no advantage over those who are able to speak, inability and self-control are two different things; our lower faculties can only be held in abeyance if we take a firm hold on the Highest.

May it therefore not be possible that an equally vital part of ourselves is that which is hidden from sight in the invisible; that that which is recognized by our fellow men is but a small part of the real living organism to which we are attached? This then will give us a reason for retirement into silence, where the true being may be fed and nourished. Man has always instinctively recognized by divine intuition the existence of this unseen part of his being, and the necessity of bringing himself into touch with the hidden source of all life.

It is a great art, to be silent if one is tempted to speak. It requires great strength to disregard the voices of the elements in one’s own lower nature when they are clamouring for the gratification of their particular desires, but power arises from practice. All true power comes from within, for in ourselves is the center of Consciousness to which are attracted the principles constituting the universe, and in us they can grow into powers. Every natural thing grows from within and not by addition from without; in ourselves is the all-powerful Word, the spiritual life which we call our own.

Our inner life is our real life; but there are comparatively few who know of its existence, because the big majority, instead of resting in the sunshine of divine wisdom, wander about in the moonshine of their fancies; they dream, but they do not yet really live. There are thousands who do not know the real purpose for which they came into this world; they are born and vegetate and die without ever having become acquainted with their own real selves.

To aid humanity in its struggle, to awaken to the realization of the true inner life, to show men the way to find the true self, the center from which arises all power, so that they may cure themselves of their ills and not expect salvation merely from external remedies, this ought to be the principal object of the true metaphysician.

—From The Word.

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