ABSTRACT
Using numerous extracts from participants’ interviews, this chapter examines their perceptions and practices of silence, generally and in the context of their spiritual journey from childhood and into their ongoing development of these practices in maturing adult faith. It considers their perceptions of silence in relation to ‘absence’ and ‘presence’ and discusses their practices within the traditional pairings of ‘external’ or ‘internal’ silence and ‘individual’ or ‘corporate’ silence. To clarify the distinctions and associations between these terms, ‘cataphatic’ and ‘apophatic’ awareness are discussed alongside definitions of ‘contemplation’ and different types of ‘meditation’, with particular reference to texts by Cynthia Bourgeault. These pairs of terms are then diagrammatically portrayed and discussed in relation to one another within a spectrum of practices of silence. Having identified the limitations and blurring that is somewhat obscured by these binary terms, the chapter highlights difficulties encountered by the women in sustaining their practices of silence and their struggles to articulate their experiences of this discipline.
