Voices
from Silence
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Personal stories of engaging in silence by practitioners from the Global Majority Heritage (GMH) or Black and Indigenous Peoples of Colour (BIPOC) communities.* |
A quarter of the way into the new millennium the reality for many people from this community is that their lives and stories are sidelined. Their voices are silenced.
Although many people from GMH/ BIPOC communities have a spiritual practice of silence, authors from these communities have tended to write more about their experiences of silencing than of their engagement with silence-based prayer.
This new series is a way to bring some voices from the GMH/ BIPOC communities into the conversations and resources about silence on the Seeds of Silence website.
Although many people from GMH/ BIPOC communities have a spiritual practice of silence, authors from these communities have tended to write more about their experiences of silencing than of their engagement with silence-based prayer.
This new series is a way to bring some voices from the GMH/ BIPOC communities into the conversations and resources about silence on the Seeds of Silence website.
June, 2026: Odun Longe:
'Finding Silence in Three Acts'
Image: Ricardo Gomez Angel, unsplash.com/@rgaleriacom
Odun Longe, London, UK
and Lagos, Nigeria |
Listen to Odun reading
'Finding Silence in Three Acts |
Finding Silence in Three Acts
Act 1 - Before the Silence
The fog was hardening into bricks and what had started as an illusion was slowly becoming my reality. My mind spiralled in an endless well of doubt. All I knew to be true was disintegrating daily. I questioned everything, my sense of self, my faith, my religion. I wasn't sure I still believed in God, yet I longed for God. I longed for connection. I longed for community. But each church I stepped into pushed me further away from God and the Christian faith.
The only thing that gave me any semblance of grounding was the silence of my meditation practice, which up until then, I assumed was separate from my faith. I began to wonder whether somewhere, meditation and Christianity intersected. Down the rabbit hole of Google, I landed on the WCCM Academy — and two modules stopped me cold, one on meditation and work, one on interfaith, the two root causes of my spiral. I was a workaholic, anxious about who I was outside of work, and that had taken its toll on my health. And I was struggling to keep believing in a God who condemned everyone to hell except Christians. My kind of Christians.
The only thing that gave me any semblance of grounding was the silence of my meditation practice, which up until then, I assumed was separate from my faith. I began to wonder whether somewhere, meditation and Christianity intersected. Down the rabbit hole of Google, I landed on the WCCM Academy — and two modules stopped me cold, one on meditation and work, one on interfaith, the two root causes of my spiral. I was a workaholic, anxious about who I was outside of work, and that had taken its toll on my health. And I was struggling to keep believing in a God who condemned everyone to hell except Christians. My kind of Christians.
Act 2 – Finding the Silence
In Silence, I had even more questions. But in Silence, I found comfort in them.
In Silence, I came to understand Rilke's counsel to "live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." My questions no longer came from anxiety, confusion and pain but from curiosity, love and longing.
In Silence, I learnt to acknowledge God in everyone and everything. I stepped into a newfound appreciation of nature without letting go of my deep love for the city. The work I love was no longer a threat to my being, and what I had mistaken for mundanity gave way to recognition of its sacredness, no less worthy than any other vocation or service.
In Silence, I reunited with my imaginative self, the one I had left behind in childhood as I performed for approval. Creativity became an expression of love, wonder and service. A forgotten language I am regaining fluency in. It has become life.
In Silence, walking with God was no longer the narrow journey of a selected few condemning the majority, but a dispersive prism, every colour, equal relevance, equal purpose.
In Silence, everyone and everything became of God to me.
In Silence, I shed the robe of performing for God's approval and for people's approval, no longer earning reward for good behaviour or dreading punishment for my failings.
In Silence, I came to the freeing knowledge that I have always been loved, I am loved, and I will always be loved.
In Silence, I came to understand Rilke's counsel to "live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." My questions no longer came from anxiety, confusion and pain but from curiosity, love and longing.
In Silence, I learnt to acknowledge God in everyone and everything. I stepped into a newfound appreciation of nature without letting go of my deep love for the city. The work I love was no longer a threat to my being, and what I had mistaken for mundanity gave way to recognition of its sacredness, no less worthy than any other vocation or service.
In Silence, I reunited with my imaginative self, the one I had left behind in childhood as I performed for approval. Creativity became an expression of love, wonder and service. A forgotten language I am regaining fluency in. It has become life.
In Silence, walking with God was no longer the narrow journey of a selected few condemning the majority, but a dispersive prism, every colour, equal relevance, equal purpose.
In Silence, everyone and everything became of God to me.
In Silence, I shed the robe of performing for God's approval and for people's approval, no longer earning reward for good behaviour or dreading punishment for my failings.
In Silence, I came to the freeing knowledge that I have always been loved, I am loved, and I will always be loved.
Act 3 – Living in the Silence
All are holy.
All are loved.
All are of God.
I am holy.
I am loved.
I am of God.
Occasionally, I forget this, and my people-pleasing, overperformer self rears its head. I pause, acknowledge it, and remind myself— I am holy. I am loved. I am of God.
Sometimes, the bifurcated, binary thinking that for over forty years has been my reality threatens to take over. I pause, acknowledge it, and remind myself— all are holy. All are loved. All are of God.
Sometimes, the bifurcated, binary thinking that for over forty years has been my reality threatens to take over. I pause, acknowledge it, and remind myself— all are holy. All are loved. All are of God.
Odun Longe, June, 2026.
Odun is a pioneer student of the WCCM Academy and leads silent prayers at St George-in-the-East, Shadwell, East London.
She mostly calls London, UK and Lagos, Nigeria home, though her work and relationships have made her a grateful nomad—blessed to encounter God's creatures in the most unexpected places.
* The terms 'Global Majority Heritage' (GMH) and 'Black and Indigenous Peoples of Colour' (BIPOC) refers to people whose backgrounds are from non-Western, non-White ethnic and cultural groups, reflecting the fact that the majority of the world’s population comes from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. These terms acknowledge the rich heritage of ancient Indigenous communities and challenge the traditional framing of racial and ethnic minorities by emphasizing that these populations are, in fact, the global majority.
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