I have the everlasting conviction that any human being, however devoid of natural gifts, can penetrate to the kingdom of truth reserved for genius, if only he or she longs for truth and is willing to concentrate all attention.
Attention consists of suspending our thought, leaving it detached, empty, ready to be penetrated by the thing or person we face.
It means holding in our minds, within reach of this thought but on a lower level and not in contact with it, the knowledge we have acquired about that thing or person.
Our way of thinking is like a woman on a mountain who, as she looks forward, sees also below her, without actually looking at them, a great many forests and plains.
In this way our thought should be silent, empty, waiting, not seeking anything, but ready to receive in its naked truth the thing or the person we face.

Simone Weil, French Mystic (1909 - 1943)

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Why am I afraid of silence?
Why don't I seek
the hush of quiet places
where alone and speechless
I can be myself?
Where in the stillness all around me
peace within me
I can hear the whisper
of truth that lasts?
If I can listen
I will be a different kind of person.
I will need no speech.
I will face the Real in silence.
I will meet the Other.

John WIJNGAARDS, 1984