Against the Dictatorship of Noise - The Power of Silence

The title is very appropriate
There is indeed power real peace real
Presence of the Almighty
Wonderful book but also very much
Should be in everyone's library
Catholic or not
Fr Pavia

I have read many great books concerning Catholic doctrine, philosophy, spirituality, and prayer....but this book is tops after the Holy Bible!! Only a silent reflection after reading this book could attempt to be a worthy description. Buy this book and plumb the depths of Gold it contains on every page!!

The book is a wonderful opportunity for contemplation. The Cardinal is right. We are deluged with noise and the one experience which will bring us close to Jesus is Silence. Only there can we hear the still small voice. MMD

The book is a wonderful opportunity for contemplation. The Cardinal is right. We are deluged with noise and the one experience which will bring us close to Jesus is Silence. Only there can we hear the still small voice. MMD

Engaging reflection on Reality of who we are with a Profound, inspiring and deep realization of how Loving God wants us to see our true beauty and receive the fullest of His grace in our deep desert of our Soul.

Cardinal Sarah does not think as I think. But (therefore?) he thinks extremely well.
If you listen as a gaggle of Lay Catholics pray the Rosary, you will see right away that they have not yet heard of silence. They vie in noisiness, one fast, one slow, one oh so meaningful, one robotic; but not one is listening. How many times did Joshua's troops silently circumambulate Jericho before they shouted? But these days we begin with shouting and are amazed when the walls do not fall.

This was a beautiful book that every Christian should read--true spiritual liberation for the soul. It enables one to look into the deep recesses of our own souls, find out who we really are, how insignificant & dependent on God we are, what it means to be truly human. We are shown a path to commune with God without going on a guilt trip, accepting the complete overpowering love that He has for us. This is done with utter simplicity in the silence of our hearts. This book is a true gem! Cardinal Sarah is like a modern-day prophet.

Cardinal Robert Sarah is an African cardinal who brings a thoroughly spiritual and profoundly insightful theology to Catholicism. Like Pope Benedict XVI, he brings me closer to our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit Who unites them.

Still reading but this is a powerful book. I bought it because like is so noisy and I wanted something that would offer calm and silence. I'm not disappointed. Great insights into the important silences in life and in liturgy. A transformational book. Highly recommended. Cardinal Sarah's voice aligns so well with Pope Benedict. Amazing insights and truths.

The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise is a good book but it's subtitle is misleading. It should read the Carthusian Way. This is a book mostly in praise of the Carthusian monastic rule of silence, which is it's focus. There's nothing wrong with that it just wasn't what I expected. Cardinal Sarah did address society's overexposure to media, electronic noise, and the cacophony of modern life, but mostly in passing.

Another difficulty I had was Cardinal Sarah didn't define "silence" until very late in the book so I had trouble understanding. Early on, I began substituting the word "stillness" for silence and that helped.

I recommend this book to anyone interested understanding monastic spirituality. It was a good book, just not what I hoped for.

I hate to give a book by a Cardinal one star. I really wanted to love this book, I really did! But the writing is horrendous. The paragraphs are all numbered (why?!) and the style is distractingly choppy (hopping from one topic to the next) & yet also annoyingly repetitive. What’s more, I found the subtle but sweeping judgements about music (among other things) to be unnecessary. Can’t we promote silence without bashing the taste some people have in music? All around a surprisingly disappointing book. I sadly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I read a lot of books each year. Unfortunately, most of them blend together and don't have a chance to shine. Every now and then, one book stands out above the rest. In 2015, that was God or Nothing, which was a recorded conversation by Cardinal Robert Sarah and Nicholas Diat. This book was not only a beautiful exposition of faith, but it also introduced me to an important and brilliant man in the Catholic Church, I might never have heard of otherwise. Now, in 2017, there has been a second book released by these two people again, this time speaking on the subject of silence and noise. It is entitled The Power of Silence, and it too is published by Ignatius Press. The book is divided into five parts:

1. Silence versus the World's Noise
2. God Does Not Speak, but His Voice is Quite Clear
3. Silence, the Mystery, and the Sacred
4. God's Silence in the Face of Evil Unheard
5. Live a Voice Crying out in the Desert: The Meeting at the Grande Chartreuse

The first four sections is a dialogue between Nicholas Diat and Robert Cardinal Sarah. The fifth section brings a third person into the mix, Dysmas de Lassus, who is Prior General of the Carthusians. I'm not sure if it's by design or a happy coincidence, but the four parts are broken down into 365 lines, and sometimes paragraphs. This means that you could take one each day of the year and slowly work your way through the book. That is hard for someone like me to do, as I am not a "daily devotional" type of person, and I would rather read the book in one or two sittings, but I highly recommend taking your time with this book. For starters, the subject matter lends itself is on slowing down and being silent, and for another thing, you will miss so much if you read too quickly. I have already re-visited this book a few times to re-read certain points.

Silence and noise are two things I really struggle with, and I imagine that is true for all people, especially my generation and the generations after that who rely so heavily on technology. We need to learn to walk away from the noise and not be so dependent upon it. By doing this we will embrace silence and not be scared of it. This is the only way we will be able to experience God and grow closer to Him. This is an amazing and life-changing book that every Christian needs to read. Cardinal Robert Sarah pulls so much wisdom from Scripture, the Church Fathers, other saints, and even Pope Benedict XVI. There are so many great pieces of wisdom to ponder on that I would like to leave you with one, where he quotes from St. Isaac the Syrian:

Love silence above all things, because it brings you near to fruit the tongue cannot express. First let us force ourselves to be silent and then from out of this silence something is born that leads us into silence itself.... If you begin with this discipline, I know not how much light will dawn on you from it.... Great is the man who by the patience of his members achieves wondrous habits in his soul! When you put all the works of this discipline on one side and silence on the other, you will find the latter to be greater in weight.

This book was provided to me for free by Ignatius Press in exchange for an honest review.

While many the store reviewers have rated this book highly, I beg to differ. Personally I am disappointed that the book consists of endless numbered paragraphs. For a theological study on silence, the book provided insights with parallels from scripture, apostolic teachings and traditions. However, from a pure reader's position, it got boring after a while. Sorry, Cardinal. :-) However, perhaps servant priests who have somewhat become lukewarm to how the Eucharist should be celebrated should read this book, and then lead their congregation towards more silence and reverence.

Reflections on silence are profound. Reflections on liturgy are quirky and reveal a cultural bias not worthy of the Catholic Church. With that caution, it is worth the read and the prayer that springs from it.

I told the local book store to throw all their other books away; this is the only one they need.

I am greatly blessed. Over the years, I’ve read many thousands of books which have chiseled my heart, forming solid niches of learning of this thing or that, making my heart, I pray, somewhat as He designed it to be. But all those books together, even the best of them, fail to summarize the total truth of the matter as this book does: there are no words.

Cardinal Sarah explains the peace of silence found in beauty, in nature, in the chapel, or even in Gregorian chant. He explains the “I” in Ipad: the noise and unrest found in the Ipad, Iphone or any other “I” forms, focused on the self. Peace is found in love and loving actions to the Grand Other, in all His forms in heaven or on earth, and in the silence of a loving heart.

This is one of the better books of the decade.

I am really Catholic, not a nominal Catholic. I have had---and still have---very, very great disappointment with our male clergy. On the one hand, they pose as high holy people. On the other hand, the male clergy, at least, has found it impossible even to keep their own house clean of the most heinous possible abuses, even sexual abuses of children. In attempting to practice and teach a higher and better way of collegiality, that could be instructive for the whole ambient society, they have instead succumbed to abominable levels indeed. I find neither the facts nor their unwillingness to clean house amusing. Our bishops in my area have entirely forgotten the apostolic charism. One regards himself as diocesan vocation director. Another sees himself as Bishop CEO, head of fund raising. What rubbish. The apostolate is teaching, but no one teaches. Into this dismal situation, Cardinal Sarah puts forward a book that outlines a valid and accessible approach to higher spirituality for many, perhaps for everyone. This is real teaching, which is the actual business of bishops---not fund raising, not vocations. The writing is not flowing, a bit formal for my tastes, but the form is not important compared to the content, and the content seems both very useful and consistent with scripture and tradition. So, it's a good effort. He didn't do well BECAUSE he is a cardinal. He did well even though he is a cardinal and so hangs around with a bad crowd. Maybe his "brother bishops" will take a lesson and try the apostolate again---for a change.

As one progresses on the spiritual path one enters a oneness with God. In this I-I relationship dualism falls away and love makes all things one. Sarah does not seem to have reached this point. I sense in him lingering ego-battles leading to more judgement than love. Let us live in hope that God is God, and a loving one at that.

A better name for "The Power of Silence" would have been "The Idolatry of Silence" since the author gushes on throughout the book in a virtual worship of silence - proclaiming its immense spiritual benefits, its great holiness, its necessity for hearing God - as if silence were an inherent great good: It is not. Silence is actually a neutral state. As with guns, everything depends on our intent: Guns can save lives or unjustly take lives; Silence can be for good or for great evil. For instance, lust generally takes place in silence, cowardice grows in silence as someone refuses to speak out against great evil or fails to defend the innocent in order to avoid painful repercussions, worse, still, silence can be used handily for cover-up to block inquiry into one's own or someone else's crimes.
The wide network of priestly sex abuse owes its existence to the power of silence. Kermit Gosnell's murder machine thrived in the atmosphere of silence promoted by Philadelphia governmental authorities and all who had personally witnessed or experienced Gosnell's crimes - yet remained silent about them. No wonder St. Catherine of Sienna said, "I have had enough of exhortations to remain silent. I see that the world is rotten because of silence." Silence, for sure, can be evil's best ally.
The deception about the inherent goodness of silence is just the beginning of error in this book. Because the editor, Nicholas Diat, crafts beautiful imagery and often turns prose into delightful poetry, the reader can be lulled by the beauty of some of this book's writings into uncritically accepting the many erroneous and unsubstantiated claims made by the author throughout the book.
For instance, early on in the book, the author states, "No one has ever heard God speak." I nearly fell off my chair at that clearly erroneous statement! Certainly, Abraham and Moses would disagree with that as would St. Paul. - not to mention all the people who had heard Jesus (God the son) speak! Jesus nearly always used words, instead of silence, to communicate with his disciples and others. Jesus certainly did not share the author's antipathy to words. And aren't we supposed to imitate Jesus? Sometimes Jesus did go off for extended periods of silence, but it was not all the time or even for most of the time.
Most of the author's lofty pronouncements about silence are unsubstantiated. You won't find footnotes backing them up. Another erroneous statement that comes to mind is the author's declaration that Heaven is completely silent - that words are not used in Heaven. Oh, really? How does he know that? Where is the proof of that? The author doesn't give any proof of it - because there isn't any.
In a time when we can easily see examples of how the "power of silence" has advanced great evil, the last thing we need to read is a book erroneously glorifying silence and advocating only prayerful silence during times of immense wickedness and injustice. This book is not fit to be read by anyone!

Reflections on silence are profound. Reflections on liturgy are quirky and reveal a cultural bias not worthy of the Catholic Church. With that caution, it is worth the read and the prayer that springs from it.

I told the local book store to throw all their other books away; this is the only one they need.

I am greatly blessed. Over the years, I’ve read many thousands of books which have chiseled my heart, forming solid niches of learning of this thing or that, making my heart, I pray, somewhat as He designed it to be. But all those books together, even the best of them, fail to summarize the total truth of the matter as this book does: there are no words.

Cardinal Sarah explains the peace of silence found in beauty, in nature, in the chapel, or even in Gregorian chant. He explains the “I” in Ipad: the noise and unrest found in the Ipad, Iphone or any other “I” forms, focused on the self. Peace is found in love and loving actions to the Grand Other, in all His forms in heaven or on earth, and in the silence of a loving heart.

This is one of the better books of the decade.

I am really Catholic, not a nominal Catholic. I have had---and still have---very, very great disappointment with our male clergy. On the one hand, they pose as high holy people. On the other hand, the male clergy, at least, has found it impossible even to keep their own house clean of the most heinous possible abuses, even sexual abuses of children. In attempting to practice and teach a higher and better way of collegiality, that could be instructive for the whole ambient society, they have instead succumbed to abominable levels indeed. I find neither the facts nor their unwillingness to clean house amusing. Our bishops in my area have entirely forgotten the apostolic charism. One regards himself as diocesan vocation director. Another sees himself as Bishop CEO, head of fund raising. What rubbish. The apostolate is teaching, but no one teaches. Into this dismal situation, Cardinal Sarah puts forward a book that outlines a valid and accessible approach to higher spirituality for many, perhaps for everyone. This is real teaching, which is the actual business of bishops---not fund raising, not vocations. The writing is not flowing, a bit formal for my tastes, but the form is not important compared to the content, and the content seems both very useful and consistent with scripture and tradition. So, it's a good effort. He didn't do well BECAUSE he is a cardinal. He did well even though he is a cardinal and so hangs around with a bad crowd. Maybe his "brother bishops" will take a lesson and try the apostolate again---for a change.

As one progresses on the spiritual path one enters a oneness with God. In this I-I relationship dualism falls away and love makes all things one. Sarah does not seem to have reached this point. I sense in him lingering ego-battles leading to more judgement than love. Let us live in hope that God is God, and a loving one at that.

A better name for "The Power of Silence" would have been "The Idolatry of Silence" since the author gushes on throughout the book in a virtual worship of silence - proclaiming its immense spiritual benefits, its great holiness, its necessity for hearing God - as if silence were an inherent great good: It is not. Silence is actually a neutral state. As with guns, everything depends on our intent: Guns can save lives or unjustly take lives; Silence can be for good or for great evil. For instance, lust generally takes place in silence, cowardice grows in silence as someone refuses to speak out against great evil or fails to defend the innocent in order to avoid painful repercussions, worse, still, silence can be used handily for cover-up to block inquiry into one's own or someone else's crimes.
The wide network of priestly sex abuse owes its existence to the power of silence. Kermit Gosnell's murder machine thrived in the atmosphere of silence promoted by Philadelphia governmental authorities and all who had personally witnessed or experienced Gosnell's crimes - yet remained silent about them. No wonder St. Catherine of Sienna said, "I have had enough of exhortations to remain silent. I see that the world is rotten because of silence." Silence, for sure, can be evil's best ally.
The deception about the inherent goodness of silence is just the beginning of error in this book. Because the editor, Nicholas Diat, crafts beautiful imagery and often turns prose into delightful poetry, the reader can be lulled by the beauty of some of this book's writings into uncritically accepting the many erroneous and unsubstantiated claims made by the author throughout the book.
For instance, early on in the book, the author states, "No one has ever heard God speak." I nearly fell off my chair at that clearly erroneous statement! Certainly, Abraham and Moses would disagree with that as would St. Paul. - not to mention all the people who had heard Jesus (God the son) speak! Jesus nearly always used words, instead of silence, to communicate with his disciples and others. Jesus certainly did not share the author's antipathy to words. And aren't we supposed to imitate Jesus? Sometimes Jesus did go off for extended periods of silence, but it was not all the time or even for most of the time.
Most of the author's lofty pronouncements about silence are unsubstantiated. You won't find footnotes backing them up. Another erroneous statement that comes to mind is the author's declaration that Heaven is completely silent - that words are not used in Heaven. Oh, really? How does he know that? Where is the proof of that? The author doesn't give any proof of it - because there isn't any.
In a time when we can easily see examples of how the "power of silence" has advanced great evil, the last thing we need to read is a book erroneously glorifying silence and advocating only prayerful silence during times of immense wickedness and injustice. This book is not fit to be read by anyone!

This is a truly thoughtful and beautiful book. As I have been entreating the neighbors (with an ignominious futility) to dampen their ignorant yapping mongrels (lo these many years), I had hoped this book would help me to enter in a serene repose even amidst this disgraceful cacophany (and mitigate a blinding rage seasoned by an unfortunate admixture of adrenaline and cortisol).

It certainly helped. Then I "misplaced" the book somewhere within their corroded and (sadly alist) mailbox. I have noticed a not insignificant decrease in the shrillness the dogs' shameful shenanigans.

Perhaps I have improved, or perhaps (decidedly less likely) an increase in moral character has taken root across the weed-choked expanse which they (to this day) insist on calling "the grass".

In any event, I loved this wonderful book.

What a delightful book! It reminds the reader of the need for silence in our lives. As I was reading it, I found myself being quiet, not only of external noises, but also internally. It was a great way to not only relax, but also to refocus myself before the next tidal wave of activity. I highly recommend the book. I have an employee who is a Morman and we always share titles of books and such, and he has it to read. As he perused it, he found himself attracted to the book and its message.

A book of what I understand to be dry (and obvious) platitudes mixed with some monastic romanticism and a Q&A with the cardinal. Also, somewhat bad idea to put an image of the pagan Roman Pantheon as the cover of a book on Carthusian, monastic spirituality. I don’t see the connection.

I don't write that many reviews -- I realize my views are often simply my own. That said, I felt I needed to make an exception with this book.

I have dedicated my life to silence and contemplation. These are not new ideas for me, but are at the heart of who I am and who I aspire to be.

There is always more to read and discover about these precious topics, and as I began The Power of Silence, I found myself in agreement with so much of what was shared. Indeed, many of the quotations from contemplatives and philosophers are inspiring. And, it seems to me, that the world in which we live is becoming increasingly "noisy."

BUT I began picking up some red flags as I read further. Then, by the time I got a little over a hundred pages into the book, it seemed that Cardinal Sarah was beginning a personal rant about a Church that could be lovingly accepting of all peoples. I've continued further into the book, but probably won't have the heart to finish it.

Cardinal Sarah is, of course, entitled to his opinions, but I feel it is unfortunate that he links them with silence or contemplation. What I have learned about the practice of silence and contemplation over the years is that they are -- MUST BE -- vast. They do not bind, but open. Silence and contemplation have no agenda. Silence opens us to the Other -- both God AND Neighbor -- we are One. Silence is an important doorway into our seeing God in All. A Church (or its leaders) who feel they need to limit our acceptance of one another, cannot claim to follow in the Spirit of Jesus. "Catholic" means universal. Silence and contemplation are universal. Regarding the Eucharist, Jesus excluded no one -- not even Judas.

We are all fragile, imperfect creatures. But through the embracing love of God, and in practiced silence, we grow a bit sturdier. The Church is now, and has always been a community of the less-than-perfect. Christ welcomed sinners, did not condemn them or turn them away!

I should probably have been warned by the title of this book. "Power" has no place in silence, and silence is not "against" anything. Even some noise is necessarily included in silence. Silence DOES have an impact on all it touches, but in a gentle, accepting, embracing way. Unfortunately, I cannot possibly recommend this book to anyone.

I choose this highest rating because of the insights, truth, and witness not only from Cardinal Sarah but also from the other religious men interviewed in this book. With all noise, both interior and exterior, to come back to the Silence of God is essential for today.

Cardinal Sarah is a senior Vatican official in charge of the liturgy of the church. To be honest I've found Sarah to be a highly ambiguous figure - while extremely popular among traditionalists, he seems to be firmly opposed to a number of Vatican II liturgical reforms and seems strongly bent on returning the church to the Tridentine form of the liturgy as much as possible. Some of his comments about Vatican II supposedly ruining the church and taking the eucharist in the hand as being the work of the Devil are in my view deeply unhelpful to say the least.

But it also needs to be acknowledged that there is a need for more silence and room for contemplation in the church and also the liturgy, and this is one matter in which I am totally in agreement with Sarah. He acknowledges that unless we can get past noise and move into silence (and he quotes Merton and St Isaac the Syrian on this point), authentic spirituality is not possible. I would certainly agree with the traditionalist that it seems there has been a loss of a sense of the Holy and Transcendent in the liturgy and also in the world at large, which leads to a highly distracted mind and a lack of attention at liturgical services - the restoration of a more silent and contemplative dimension to liturgies, including practices such as Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction and a more central place for the Tabernacle and increased use of appropriate Latin hymns would, if done correctly, would help make the Mass a more meaningful experience for some and also foster a greater sense of prayerfulness. While I disagree with the Traditionalist a wholesale return to the Tridentine Latin Mass with the priest facing away once more from the congregation (Ad Orientum), getting rid of the laity from the sanctuary, and placing more emphasis in the clerical minister are the way to go (along with requiring Latin rite Catholics to only receive communion rarely on the tongue while kneeling at a rail), more silence in my view can only be helpful.

What is unhelpful unfortunately with Sarah and also much of the 'Reform of the Reform' movement in general is under the guise of reverence and piety and Orthodoxy, a rather rigid, cold, conformist, paternalistic, clericalist and extreme-right wing form of Catholicism emerges which largely rejects Vatican II and its liturgical reforms as at best an aberration and at worst rank heresy. One only needs to watch the miserable and angry vitriol expended by many so-called Traditionalists and their enemies in internet forums, social media and television (thinking here particularly of hour-long episodes on internet channels such as 'Church Militant' listing liturgical abuses and urging people to reject Vatican II practices such as receiving the host in the hand or female alter-servers) over the liturgy and precise and correct observation of a fundamentalist obsession with rubrics and law that makes you wonder whether these people would do with someone like Jesus and his rather simple fellowship meals with 'tax-collectors and prostitutes' whereby the Pharisees of the time said "Behold, a drunkard and a glutton and a friend of sinners and tax collectors.' Such obsessions over liturgical trivia and a desire for a very ornate, complex and baroque form of liturgy with elaborate vestments, expensive vessels made of gold and jewels and almost magical incantations in Latin combined with the support of weird far-right political causes don't auger well for the church and in balance, have be judged to be unhealthy. The clericalism and sense of entitlement you see in prelates such as Cardinal Burke and Sarah, who are steadfastly opposed to Pope Francis seem to reflect this attitude precisely and are not sustainable for a church that has lost its moral authority in the abuse scandals and has no more moral capital in its 'trust' account with the wider public, and increasingly (at least in America and some parts of Europe) has been bought and paid for by ultra-wealthy right-wing patrons. Sadly as such, this attitude can only lead to a dead end and won't renew the church.

This said, at least contemplation and silence will no longer be seen (as some weird attacks on practices like Christian meditation from traditionalist Catholics imply) as the work of the devil, but as a long and authentic part of the church's tradition. Sarah at least deserves credit here for that point.

One of the most beautiful books I have ever read! The thoughts are so lovingly expressed, almost poetic but not. There is profound peace to be found in silence even in the midst of the cacophony of the world. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

How silence permits us to hear God's voice. We are forever bombarded with noise and distractions.,......even our Church's have become meeting places for fraternizing rather than a place of silence and prayer.

What begins as a very profound argument for Silence soon deteriorates into a mish-mash of arguments against Vatican 2. Worth reading the first half of the book, but the rest is a jumble. Maybe should give 1/2 price for those who only read the first half!

I'm sure the Curia in Rome would like to see a lot more 'Silence' in their Church. Not quite sure why, in this world of decadent propaganda, false news and destructive untruth, anyone would allow themselves to be 'silent'. Silence in our world is Death. Remember where silence led Germany in the 1930s !

I seldom review books but this one needs a caution. Cardinal Sarah needs to take a little of his own advice and not confuse silence with Catholic dogma. He believes himself truly ipse Christus and that he knows the path of God. Please move over and let the silence that is God speak for itself.
j