Silence, Solitude, Stillness: The Spiritual Disciplines We Need in a Noisy World

Brett McKay (0:00)

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We live in a world of pervasive noise. Even when we're alone and our surroundings are quiet, our device is bombarded with an endless stream of inputs, messages, news, opinions, entertainment, and we feel constantly connected. My guest argues that this lack of both silence and solitude isn't just generating stress and fragmenting our attention, but doing real damage to our souls. His name is John Mark Comer, and he's a pastor and the author of Into the Quiet. Today in the show, we discuss what noise is doing to the deepest parts of us, and how engaging in silence and solitude can help us cultivate inner stillness. We explore the monastic tradition behind these spiritual disciplines, why engaging them can sometimes feel like a negative experience, and what happens when all our usual distractions disappear.

We also get into simple ways to bring more quiet into everyday life.

After the show is over, check out our show notes at aom.is slash silence.

All right. John Mark Comer, welcome to the show.

John Mark Comer (3:53)

Very happy to be back with you, Brad. Thank you.

Brett McKay (3:56)

So we had you on the show about two years ago to talk about the idea of spiritual disciplines, which you explored this in your book, Practicing the Way. And two of the spiritual disciplines we briefly discussed are solitude and silence. Well, you got a new book out where you just go deep into these two spiritual disciplines. It's called Into the Quiet. What prompted you to really dig into solitude and silence?

John Mark Comer (4:21)

Brad, I spend a fair bit of time in the quiet corners of my noisy and busy life as a dad and worker and all that kind of stuff, sneaking away to quiet places to just come to peace and find stillness and in my case to pray.