The Penn's Grove record., 1917-02-09
IN SOLITUDE
Affords Opportunity for a Man to
Become More Conscious of
Gods Goodness.

Loaf n invite your soul" was a
pregnant suggestion of Walt Whit
a "Know thyself"-thy deeper
self-was the pregnant advice of So
crates. In solitude we meet and get
acquainted with our larger self. Here
there is danger of morbid self-intro-
spection, and of carrying worldly ills
within. Our only escape from morbid
self-consciousness is through becom-
ing conscious of God. In silence
when alone with our deeper self we
may become conscious not only of our
larger self, but also of its environing
universal. I'm me lives a greater than
me" / live and move and have my
being not merely in a physical or So
cial universe.
Beneath the largely submerged ice
berg, enswathing and sustaining it,
lies the fathomless ocean. Beneath,
around u larger self, enswathing,
sustaining, energizing, is the omni-
present universal-call it God or what
you will. Stay in the silence and reso-
lutely lay aside all thought of self
resolutely relate yourself to the omni-
present universal that environs you
and a sense of his presence will come.
1T will arouse the sense of the sub
lime. 1t will help you to worship
God and to enjoy commerce with him.
1T will humble and exalt us so that we
can smile
to think Gods greatness
Flows around our incompleteness.
Round our restlessness, his rest.
That is the religion of silence-the
conscious immediate personal contact,
commerce, communion of the soul with
God. In truth consciousness of the
real self is not complete till one has
attained the immediate consciousness
of the environing God. "Whither shall
/ go from thy presenter" psalm 1897
We are only complete in him. We are
IN God. Underneath are the everlast-
ing arms. In silence we may recog-
nize the immanence of God-become
Immediately conscious of the great
companion-the silent, often unrecog-
nized, and sometimes pra ctically dis
owned partner of our toiling-upward
life.
God soon fades out of the life of ev-
cry man who does not have such first
hand knowledge of him as comes be-
hind the closed door-in the silence.
We may learn many things about God
from tradition and on the authority of
others or of the church. But this Sec
%ond-hand knowledge alone is not vital
izing.
The Psalmist sings to us, 'The Lord
is my Shepherd" That was first-hand
knowledge, resting on personal expe-
rience and not on authority. We want
TO be able to have the same expert
ence-persOnally to realize that God
is u Shepherd. In silence we may
have the testimony of the spirit-the
spirit itself Immediately (and o
merely through tradition or external
cult bearing witness with our spirit
that W. are the children of God. In
silence our soul may seek the soul of
the universe until it grips and is grip
ped by the Holy Spirit of God. Go
into the Silence-shut the world of or
binary life out-and listen. Make the
adventure, the experiment of the clos
ct. Submit yourself to the discipline
of aloneness with the great Alone.
Celebrate the sacrament of silence
and you will find a thrill of the divine
more intense than n thrill of in
tense strenuous external activity. The
inner light will stream through the
east window of divine surprise and
the inner life will be energized in
conscious contact with the dynamo of
the great Holy Spirit of God.-Ex-
change.