Thursday Thirteen: Thoughts on Silence

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the signature nonsense word of Mary Poppins, the Edwardian nanny who turns the Banks household upside down by infusing it with warmth, spirit, and imagination. Mary Poppins will have no truck with mean-spirited, bean-counting Mr. Banks and his misplaced priorities of punctuality and business over his young children. She sets the world right.

When Mr. Banks finally sees the light shed by Mary Poppins, he uses this word to silence his banker bosses, who are cheap to the point of being cruel and foolish even in their treatment of Banks's little boy. It is a word that silences all foolishness and frees Mr. Banks to see with crystal clarity the sheer beauty of being alive.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious rids the mind of foolishness at the same time it silences the person to whom it is addressed. There's nothing left to say. Silence, Mary Poppins teaches us, is not only golden but also the gold standard of good living--that is, a life of kindness and compassion and beauty. Here are some more pearls of folk wisdom on silence:

1. From my neighbor: "Stupid and cheerful works for me."
2. From mom: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
3. From Sally Berger: "You never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut."
4. From Northern Ireland: "Whatever you say, say nothing."
5. From the Dalai Lama: "Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent."
6. From Mahatma Gandhi: "In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth."
7. From Ausonius: "He who does not know how to be silent will not know how to speak."
8. From Confucius: "Silence is the true friend that never betrays."
9. A German Proverb: "Silence is a fence around wisdom."
10. Robert Greeleaf: "Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much."
11. Phillip Brooks: "A man who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words.”
12. From Thomas Merton: "It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say."
13. From Mother Teresa: "We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature--trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Thursday Thirteen