Silence

Step Eleven turns us toward Silence, offering prayer and meditation as pathways — though not exclusive ones. It is less a technique than a posture of listening, one that may unfold in stillness, in work, in conversation, or in the ordinary movements of the day.

If Egos Anonymous is about loosening the grip of the managing self, we need to understand what we are loosening into.

Across contemplative traditions, Silence is not emptiness or withdrawal. It is presence. It is participation. It is the ground beneath the small self.

Below are a few voices that have shaped this inquiry.

—

Meister Eckhart
“Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness.”

For Eckhart, Silence is interior stillness — a release of grasping. When the self stops asserting itself, something deeper is born. Silence becomes the space where God is encountered, not through effort but through surrender.

—

Thomas Merton

“Silence is not a virtue, nor is it good merely because it is silence. It is good when it is the silence of humility.”

Merton cautions against romanticizing quiet. Silence can conceal pride as easily as it can reveal truth. It becomes transformative only when it arises from humility — when self-importance relaxes and reality is allowed to speak.

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Rumi
“Silence is the sea, and speech is like a river.”

For Rumi, Silence is intimacy. Words flow from it, but do not contain it. The Beloved is encountered in wordless communion — not sterile, but alive.

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Mother Teresa
“We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Silence, for her, was practical. Without it, we cannot truly hear. Without hearing, we cannot love.

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Laozi
“Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind become still.”

In Taoist thought, stillness is alignment. When the mind quiets, we stop interfering with the natural unfolding of life. The Tao does not require our management.

—

Ramana Maharshi
“Silence is the most potent form of work.”

Ramana taught that Silence itself transmits truth. Not doctrine. Not argument. Presence.

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Thich Nhat Hanh
“Silence is essential. We need silence just as much as we need air.”

Inner silence frees us from the constant mental narration. It restores contact with what is here.

So How Do We Access Silence?

First notice who is asking.

The ego loves this question. “How do I get there?” “What’s the technique?” “How long will it take?”

Silence isn’t somewhere else. It is what is here before the next thought arrives.

You do not have to eliminate the mind. Thoughts may continue. Let them. You are not the chatter. You are the awareness noticing it.

Silence is not the absence of sound. It is the absence of identification.

When you stop clinging to a thought — when you don’t follow it into the future or the past — there is a gap. That gap can feel like love. That gap can feel like home.

You don’t create the gap. You relax into it.

The irony is that the part of you trying to achieve Silence is the only thing making it seem distant.

Instead of trying to become silent, notice what is already aware. Notice that you are here. Before the story. Before the fixing.

When we stop arguing with reality — stop improving ourselves, stop defending our image, stop narrating our worth — something quieter may begin to come into view. Not something new, but something that was obscured by effort.

And as you practice noticing, you may begin to trust that Silence is not escape from yourself. It is return.

Return to the Self beneath self-protection.
Return to the part of you that was never broken.
Return to the Presence that has been sustaining you all along.

You may discover that what you were trying to reach has been quietly present all along.