In the desert of Egypt, silence was described as the daughter of patience, the mother of watchfulness. When all words are abandoned, a new awareness arrives. Silence awakens us from numbness to the world around us, from our dullness of vision. . . . For the early desert dwellers, silence is a requirement of life, the first duty of love. Silence is a way of waiting, a way of watching, a way of noticing — and not ignoring — what is going on in our heart and in our world. It is the glue that binds our attitudes and our actions, our belief and our behavior. Silence reflects our surrender to God as well as to new patterns of learning and living.

John Chryssavgis, Light Through Darkness