GREENSBORO – The philosopher Nietzsche famously had a fictional character declare that “God is dead.” That was, to be sure, a metaphorical statement, and one that was meant to be predictive of things to come. (Traditional religion was still prevalent when Nietzsche wrote in the 1880s.)
We might think of that declaration as an early warning signal, by which Nietzsche was pointing toward a coming shift in Western culture by which the traditional Christian religion of his era, was starting to lose its ability to speak effectively to many people; and that hearing the voice of God was becoming less and less credible to more and more people, especially among the more highly educated of his day.
Though I don’t share Nietzsche’s atheistic world view, I do think he was onto something. In the 140 years since he wrote, he’s been proven right that for millions of people, the voice of the Divine does seem to have gone silent in their personal experience. What are we to make of this “silence of God?”
One common answer to this question comes from atheism: that God doesn’t exist; and that the discoveries of rationalism and science have awakened more and more people to that reality.
There is another approach, offering a different perspective; namely, that the voice of God seems to have gone silent in our time, because the patterns of our current culture have strongly programmed us against honoring the value of silent stillness. Indeed, most of us have lost the capacity to be silent for very long; or to study the skills of stilling our bodies and minds in such a way that we can learn the language of spiritual silence, and reap the benefits of quiet stillness.
To me, one of the main factors in this seeming silence of the Divine can be found precisely in the degree to which we moderns tend to be resistant to the experience of silence itself. Our culture has an overwhelming tilt toward distraction. It is relentless in the myriad ways it programs us to keep busy, be active, stay on the move, become higher achievers, make more money, buy more things and consume more and more goods.
In the process, almost all of us have become deeply accustomed to surrounding ourselves with endless distractions. Whether we are on our devices or in our cars, scanning social media, waiting on hold for customer service or watching sporting events, movies or TV shows, we have let ourselves be inundated by a constant drumbeat of attention-grabbers that fill our eyes, ears and minds with anything but silence.
There is, however, another way: making room in our lives for a regular spiritual practice; taking daily time for spiritual reading; and making time each day to be silent and still, whether in the form of contemplation, centering prayer or meditation, by whatever name you may call it.
There is a wonderful story in the Old Testament where Elijah was trying to seek God’s guidance. He tried to do so by turning his attention again and again to loud dramatic things outside himself: first in a strong wind, then an earthquake, then a fire. Eventually he found something surprisingly different; the only place he could hear God’s voice was in the “sound of sheer silence.” (1 Kings 19:12, NRSV translation).
There’s some good wisdom for us moderns there as well: to make time and space to listen for the Divine voice in a similar way, by listening for the sounds of silence, the core language of the spiritual dimension of this remarkable universe.
The Rev. Acheson is the retired former pastor of the Greensboro United Church of Christ. He welcomes comment and conversation at [email protected] . Samples of his writing are at anthonyeacheson.com.
