The Wisdom That Waits in Silence
As the New Moon rises, we walk the Via Negativa releasing, making space, and the glory of seeking and revealing hidden wisdom.
Invocation
Inhale . . .
Be present in the moment . .
Making space for listening . .
Exhale . . .
Seeing the patterns in life . .
Grateful for the deep wisdom . .
The Sacred Moment
Today, the new moon veils the sky, cloaking the heavens in silence and shadow. May we feel the call to surrender, to sacred unknowing, to the holy hush that dwells beneath words. In the deep darkness of the New Moon, we walk the path of the Via Negativa: the way of release, of letting fall what no longer serves, of listening for the presence hidden in absence. Our souls ache not for answers, but for peace within the questions, for a love that meets us in the void.
This is a moon to release, to empty, to rest.
Theme:
John 12:24
“Most assuredly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” - Jesus Christ
We turn to the simple wisdom of Jesus this New Moon, entering the deeper meaning within his brief but potent words. To embrace life, we must, like the grain of wheat, let go, to even “die” to our present lives: lives burdened with suffering, weighed down by busyness, and flooded with distractions.
Only then, in silence, can we germinate. Rooting ourselves in wisdom so that we may one day burst forth and bear much fruit. This is the heart of The Way of the Hidden Voice.
To walk this Way is to embrace the rhythm of silence and speech, to practice deep listening. Not unto the death of our voice, but unto life. In doing so, we drink deeply from wisdom and participate with humility and sovereignty: in ourselves, in our families, in our communities, and in the greater web of humanity.
We are invited to engage in conversational spaces not to rush to speak, but to wait, to understand. To become those who listen before responding, who honor what is hidden, who attend to the quiet and the marginalized. This is the path of radical humility. Not the erasure of self, but the making of sacred space within the self to hear what flows through the whole.
Even in a busy room, we can, in silence, draw deep wisdom. We begin to see the patterns of interacting holons. How some engage with humility, others with sovereignty, and still others in conflict, smothering or being smothered. We learn to listen to the stories being told, and to ask: What is the message beneath these words?
Wisdom does not trickle down from authority. It emerges in quiet still small voice found in reflection and rooted in observing the spaces we share with others. The world may teach us to speak, to produce, to fill the silence. Yet there is a voice that does not shout. It rustles at the edge of being. It hums behind the noise. It lives in the stories whispered between the loud words and the conflict between the holons.
The Way of the Hidden Voice is not about silencing the self. It is about clearing space within the self so that deeper wisdom may rise. As we walk this path of quiet and letting go, we learn to drink from the wisdom that emerges in the dynamic dance of overlapping circles: individuals, families, communities, even nations. Each speaking through the mouths of many.
It is the sacred art of surrendering the spotlight, of sitting in the midst of the chaos and cacophony with reverent attention. In that space, wisdom emerges gently from the ground, like dew, like breath, like memory.
To practice this path is to cultivate intimacy with the unseen:
To witness the flickering currents of dialogue without interruption.
To notice how each voice shapes the resonance of the whole.
To see how sovereignty is offered, withdrawn, and restored. Seeing it’s strength not through dominance, but presence and mutuality.
There is holiness in watching instead of guiding. In noticing rather than naming. The soul learns not by capturing the truth, but by being with it.
This is the mystery of the seed: its dying is not its end, but its transformation.
So too, when we release the compulsion to speak, to fix, to be right we become soil.
And in that humility, something beautiful takes root.
Let your listening stretch beyond the surface of words. Listen to the friction of unmet needs, the grief wrapped in laughter, the longing hidden in silence. This kind of listening is a devotional act and a surrender that allows decentralized wisdom to rise, not from the self alone, but from the whole.
You do not disappear in this quiet.
You become part of something vaster than you could ever speak.
Practice or Invitation
The Way of the Hidden Voice
Choose a public place rich in conversation and community energy: a café, bar, restaurant, party, or communal gathering. Any space where people gather and speak freely.
This practice is not about retreating into solitude, but about becoming a sacred witness in the heart of collective life.
Enter silently, with the vow not to speak unless directly invited to do so.
Take your seat or place with gentle presence. If you can as close to the center of everything without obstructing anyone.
Let yourself observe without needing to guide, correct, contribute or endorse.
Open your senses to the space: voices, movement, tension, rhythm, gestures.
As you listen, shift your awareness between layers:
the individual voices,
the conversation as a whole,
the energy that flows between people,
What stories are actually being told behind the words spoken.
You are listening for the resonance between holons: the individual and the group, the spoken and the unspoken, the tension and the harmony.
What is being negotiated in the space?
Who is honored? Who is silenced?
Where does sovereignty flow freely, and where is it withheld or violated?
Do not rush to interpret, feel first. Let understanding emerge from presence.
Make mental notes for journaling later
Every table, every cluster of voices, every moment of interaction is a nested holon, a whole within a whole. Each person is sovereign, yet woven into a greater pattern.
As you observe:
Notice oscillations between self-assertion and humility.
Sense how certain words ripple outward and others fall away.
Witness how power, grace, and listening move between beings.
Closing the Practice:
When it feels complete, leave without commentary and gracefully thank those around you for a wonderful time.
Later, perhaps at home, or in a quiet moment reflect gently and note in your journal:
What did I witness?
What stories were being told?
What did I learn from simply being with the voices and spaces?
Where did I see wisdom emerging?
Closing Blessing
Dagda, as we walk the path of the via negativa this new moon grant us the grace and wisdom to making space for listening and to drink deeply, overflowing our plates with wisdom gained from walking the way of the hidden voice. So that we too may germinate and burst forth bearing much fruit.
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