★ Preparation for Silence
More tidbits from Anthony Bloom, a Russian Orthodox doctor/priest/monk in Great Britain and Ireland. This comes from page 91-2 of “Beginning to Pray” (Anthony Bloom).
Real silence is something extremely intense, it has density and it is really alive.
[When preparing to pray] It is essential to be alert and alive, and at the same time still and relaxed, and this is contemplative preparation for contemplative silence, the very difficult balance between the kind of alertness that will allow you with a completely open mind, completely free from prejudice, from expectation, to receive the impact of anything that will come your way, and at the same time this stillness that will allow you to receive the impact without dreaming into it the picture of your own presence that will be destructive of it.
