A Guided Tour
Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul, Sally Longley (Cascade Books, Eugene, 2021).
I, like many people, enjoy traveling. When I travel to a new destination or a foreign country, I find it helpful to seek the services of an experienced guide. I learn more about the country, than I would on my own, and I experience more of the local culture and charm.
For the past several years, I’ve been exploring Christian Contemplation, or Centering Prayer. It introduced me to a new location—the Land of Silence. I poked around a few areas of silence, but truthfully, I was a stranger in a foreign land. It was not until I read Conversations with Silence, by Sally Longley, that I began to understand the land and feel comfortable in it.
Langley’s narrative style, beautiful prose, and inductive process, welcomes the reader to the experience of silence and guides the reader in its exploration. The reader comes away with much more than a trivial knowledge—“Alex, I’ll take Silence for $200, please”—of the subject. Instead there are moments of world shattering insights, and the possibility of life changing events. By the end of the book, a longing for silence has been planted in the reader. The reader knows that he or she will return for further exploration and more experiences.
Our world is filled with noise. Langley’s book is an important work to help us cope with the cacophony of sound. Not only is silence rare, but it is often misunderstood and even feared. Conversations with Silence offers the reader clarity and silences fear. For those who wish to travel and explore the land of silence, I heartily recommend this book. Lives will never be the same.
I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.