P{salm 115:17

Psalm 115:17

The place silence

In November 2020 I had a vision of the “place of silence” and this seems to be an appropriate place to repeat it! 

 

“The silence was deafening, and no one dare speak. We were travelling, on foot, just a small family group, across a vast plain. The surface beneath our feet was black and reflective, almost like ice, although it was not slippery. There was a strange, ethereal light that came not from the sun or the moon. It was a gloomy light, oppressive and full of foreboding – nothing stood out, you could not read in that light. Everything was shadowy and yet there were no objects to create shadows. It felt like a moonlit night but there was no orb in the sky just a reflection of light off the ebony ground beneath our feet. And that silence! 

 

The panorama around us seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon as if the path we took was flat, but there was also a strange sensation of occasional rising and falling that suggested we were moving through a landscape that was uneven but always appeared as monotonously horizontal. There was nothing to break up the desolation in that place, just the dark surface, the eerie light and the distant horizon which suggested nothing but more of the same. It felt as if we were visitors to an alien planet where nothing else lived and where there had never been communication, or life, or any kind of disturbance, just the dull monotony of nothing. Our feet made no sound as we walked and although we were together it was as is if we travelled alone in oppressive isolation. To speak would have been impossible and anyway there were no words to describe this place or the fear that gripped our spirits. 

 

We had been instructed to walk in a straight line although there was no identifiable object ahead to focus upon. Somehow, we knew that we were going in the right direction and that there would be an end to this dreadful expedition. At some point, I know not when for time had stopped, I felt as if there was a presence close by. I stopped and peered into the gloom and could have sworn that there was another being somewhere out there. The sensation grew and I became convinced that we were not the only inhabitants but that other people like us existed in that dreadful place. Their identity remained unknown, they were not visible and could not be heard but my spirit told me that there were others, like me, close by. I sensed that they were not travellers but residents who were trapped in some kind of out-of-our-world confinement. Men and women who were waiting, but waiting for what? How could this be? I had no answers and no one to ask.

 

It was at this point that I realised that my group had kept moving, unaware that I had stopped. To my horror there was no sign of them, they had disappeared completely from view. I tried to call out but found that language and sound had no place in that dreadful scene. Which way to go? Had they continued in the line as we had been directed? A terrible panic overcame me and I wanted to run but found that this too was impossible and where would I run to? The solitary isolation of that awful place will ever haunt me, it is impossible to put into words how dreadfully alone and empty it was or the sense of overwhelming fear that I felt, that I was cut off and abandoned there, for ever. The desperate emptiness of that landscape, the lack of natural light, the density of the silence and the sense of pointlessness of existence are impossible to describe.  I would like to say that I set off hoping that I would find my companions but there is no such thing as hope in that lonely, god-forsaken detention centre. I hastened my pace and found myself ascending although there was no visible obstacle in my way. As I reached the summit of what I can only guess was a small hill or hump I caught sight of my companions in the distance and stumbling downwards made every effort to re-join them. No one spoke as I caught up as if my absence had been unnoticed and we were all travelling alone although we were together. 

 

The end of this terrifying journey did come – I woke up! And a voice said to me, “You have just had a glimpse of the place of the departed spirits who await the coming judgement.””