Taming Talk's Tenacious Tintinabulation

One of several downsides to the lemming-like proliferation of the internet and cell phones is the generation of a tsunami of inane verbiage, which inundates sacred silence and leaves us with the muck and dismal din of spoken and written logorrhea. Many, of course, would flee the silence if they were exposed to it, but time for quiet, solitary prayer and thought is essential if we are to commune with God and grow in Christian Science.



Mankind seems to have acquired a desperate, insatiable desire to talk or listen to talk, no matter how mindless and useless. Babble and idle chitchat the world lived without for most of its history are now de rigeur. "If people would confine their talk to subjects that are profitable, that which St. John informs us took place once in heaven, would happen frequently on earth,--silence for the space of half an hour." (MBE, Mis. 339: 2-5) If we are ever going to hear that still, small voice which helps and heals, we must find sanctuary in hours of patient quietude, no matter how insistent the desire to hear someone or be heard.



A/the Mother Church web site has apparently encouraged participation in a lively, active discussion on "spiritual healing, spirituality, and Mary Baker Eddy" or something along those lines. To what end, one would like to know, and why are they so ashamed to talk about Christian Science healing if people must natter about something? " 'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!/ Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun/The frumious Bandersnatch!' " ("Jabberwocky", Lewis Carroll) There is obviously a danger of being hoist by one's own observations, but it is far better to listen to God than to me or anyone else.

"And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea/I see Christ walk,/And come to me, and tenderly,/Divinely talk." (MBE, "Christ My Refuge") If one is not secretly, silently, patiently watching for Christ's numinous coming to his yearning and expectant consciousness, it may be yet another potential blessing gone by unheeded, and we will be poorer in Spirit for it.

Note: If the information concerning the lively Mother Church website mulligan stew is correct that Christian Science or C. S. healing isn't a stated topic, perhaps the excitement in the interchange of words couild be juiced a bit by making participation a game of sorts by having a secret word, like the old Groucho Marx tv show "You Bet Your Life", where he announced at the outset to the audience what the secret word was. If the contestant used the word in the course of their conversation a bird (not a real one) would drop down on a string and the person would get a prize. The secret word on the MC website could be Christian Science, and the first 25 people having the temerity to mention Christian Science would get a prize, say a free one-year subscription to the "Sentinel". If someone only said Christian or Science, but not both together, he would get a consolation prize of a free two-year subscription to the "Sentinel".