On Seeing Wisdom in Quiet

  

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

- Ecclesiastes 9.17-18

Often the most beautiful things are the quietest. They don't shout for attention. It sits there quietly, patiently, being exactly what it was meant to be. And it can often be overlooked whilst the loudest thing grabs for attention. Why is it that the wisdom of the quiet is most ignored?

I try to make a study and observation of the world, and in my quiet nature, reflect on things that others probably never notice. I value the small details, the small gestures, the meaningful moments. I regularly see in my tiny sliver of the world I can see from, that most people get caught up in the whirlwind of the most popular and or most controversial news/hype/media etc. And it easily consumes them. It pulls them toward a side and extreme feelings (because everything these days requires that you take a side immediately, and voice that loudly on social media or you are not a proper human being) all while ignoring the wisdom of the quiet. 

Am I wrong to feel a strong resistance to this? I want to go the other way and think for myself. I want to hear both side of an idea, but not blast it over social media. I want to think about the deep and meaningful things. I want to read and study to understand. I want to let the beauty of small moments hold me in a stillness of reflection without distraction.

In my striving to resist the extremes and in my nature of observing, it is a bit unnerving to see the ever-increasing reliance on technology/social media. They are fine as tools (a means) to achieve many good ends, but they have become an idol to our culture and society in so many ways. It sets the tone for looking toward these things as an end. Rather than solving something ourselves through creative thinking. Get the app, the device, expensive item, or pill that will solve your problem, and then you have even more problems you never predicted. It's a cycle that never ends and it is consuming, as it is meant to be. When can we stop being such consumers and instead be creators of beauty and goodness? When we allow anything other than God to be the source and center of hope beauty, truth, and goodness, we enter into a dangerous territory. 

So many of our own issues can be worked out through quiet and contemplation. Prayer, mediation, reflection, reading. When we pause to notice, we are able to see our issues more clearly, and have a better frame of mind to perhaps make a small (or significant) change to help solve that problem. If we dare to listen to God, we turn off our own worldly desires (if but for a brief moment). Sometimes we overlook the most simple thing, while we reach for the most costly and complex thing that loudly promises to solve our problem.