Silence Fast

Little Suzie Creamcheese is an article including quotes from "Eat, Pray, Love" written by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Though my 23 year old daughter has now gone through "Vipassana" which is a 10 day stint of meditating without speaking. She has now done this twice. Though I have done 4 days without water or food, even I (at this age) haven't done 10 days without speaking while meditating. We all have our forte's and I have always known staying quiet while meditating for 10 days straight wasn't something I was drawn to do. For me, this is primarily having already grown up as an only child. I have already had way to much alone time already before I was 12. So, having people to talk to at least once a day I prefer. And for me not talking to someone for more than 3 or 4 days I don't find that useful. But, everyone is different.

Meditating and not speaking for 10 days will really put you through it. You will have to face all your personal gods and demons during that time. Some people really love this because like my daughtter says, "If your arm hurts from sitting in a certain position meditating and you just wait and experience the pain it changes soon into something else." Now, you and I might have something different to say about that, but my daughter thinks this is important not be swayed by your emotions and rather to just watch your emotional reactions to things including physical pain while realizing everything just keeps changing. So, whether you are experiencing  pleasure or pain it will soon pass and turn into something else. She finds this important to be aware of.

For me, I find it is more important to be spontaneous in every moment possible. So, for me, what  is important is to have the freedom to "Pray without ceasing" so every moment becomes an ongoing ever increasingly powerful prayer for the end of suffering and the coming to enlightenment for all beings in the past, present and future. And by joining with all beings in the past, present and future we together create the end of suffering for all beings by creating heaven realms for all beings in the past, present and future of the universe. And, for me, this is a good and useful thing to do all the time.
And when I do this all the time (or as much as possible) I also live in these heaven realms that all join in the past, present and future of the universe by God's Grace.