Because meditative silence is a form of disengagement from the external world and its sensory input, it is linked to the idea of the unseen and the dark. I am not referring to "the dark" in terms of emotional or moral "darkness", but rather to dark that implies rest and protection. I have written quite a bit about the spiritual focus of feeding the light and now in our exploration of silence, I touch the idea that the light can be fed by times of the "dark" as the unseen, the unheard.
Rilke wrote, "What we owe to silence, makes our ripening exact." Whenever I think of this quote, I think of a tomato, ripening in a paper bag. The tomato produces its own ethylene gas to promote ripening; the bag provides the containment of the gas and protects the tomato, while still allowing air flow. The unseen, the dark is also an aspect of the creative process of new life, in gestation as the embryo "ripens" toward birth, and the seed, hidden in underground darkness, sprouts and pushes upward to receive the light of the sun. Rilke's quote is actually translated into English from his German translation of a French poem, "Palm" by Paul Valéry. Another, direct English translation of the "Palm" poem reads Valery's idea as:
Patience, patience,...
Every atom of silence
Is a seed of ripeness!
For both poets, Rilke and Valery, silence in solitude is an essential part of the creative process. It is a time of waiting,... of becoming... and an unseen ripening. Trust that your fruits of meditation "self-ripen" in silence. Our part is to "attend".
Rilke (Duino Elegies) advises:
"Be alert for any sign of beauty or grace. Offer up every joy, be awake at all moments to the news that is always arriving out of silence."