The Silent Encounter

Here is an invitation to experience God in the prayerful moments of silent meditation. Sounding the Silence guides our prayer so that we can escape the chaos and distractions that life sometimes gives us and just sit, in "silence," with God. Inspired by the Carthusian tradition of silent prayer, Skinner offers simple models of praying that are both inviting and safe, proving that anyone can pray and that no prayer is the same. It provides weekly readings based on a simple half hour of stillness and threaded together to provide a year long exploration of silence. The book can be used individually or by Catholic and ecumenical prayer groups, RCIA team members, worship team members, and parish or diocesan staff members.

Silence—scary, inviting, or both? What do you do with silence? And what if silence was a language we could learn to read, hear, and even speak? This book invites you to tune the eyes and ears of your heart to the cadences of silence. Enter into conversations with silence as you are taken on an odyssey. Venture into the Australian bush. Trek deep into the red desert. Encounter shadows and desert dwellers. You will also delve into the tiny houses of everyday silences and receive their gifts of hospitality. And stumbling into that other territory, where silence becomes a death threat, or survival, an orchard can show you the fruit of life beginning again. Conversations with Silence takes you to the Rosetta Stone of an ancient, forgotten language, a language some have called God, or the soul. Immerse yourself in the silent realm of mystics, musicians, poets, and pilgrims of every path. These are our companions, as we explore the nuanced vocabulary of the worlds of silences and join in the conversation with a new voice.

First Published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The onset of this Volume explores the life of an adult immature boy. He faces the emotional feelings of encountering an interpersonal relationship. These loving emotions were suppressed through drug abuse during life. Exposed to such feelings he failed to know how to handle this emotional state. Upon his separation from his first real girl friend he suffered a mental breakdown to the hands of an older friend giving him LSD. His trust in reality, his trust in the family, and his faith in mankind were demented. His hallucinating led him to his loss of personal responsibility. Upon breaking the law he was sent to jail and moved to a psychiatric facility to receive help. His therapy was geared to help a hostile and aggressive person. His mental state was one of chemically induced hallucinations and some psychotic fantasy. The imposed force of treatment was going to help him to deal with his aggression. Through therapy thee was hope in guiding the path to a more healthy and productive future. The boy was diagnosed with poor impulse controls. He was character sketched to be a heinous criminal. The preconceived notions were imposed that he was to have the characteristics of a person with aggressive tendencies. All hypothetical situations were leveraged to believe he would act violently. Predetermined behavioral states left him to be treated for a condition of possessing underlying hostilities. He was not to be trusted. Given many chance the boy showed that he could be a model patient. He showed he was able to comply with the rules. His learning about system showed where he was able to manipulate the system for personal gain. He had evolved and progressed in his criminal mentality to repeat his acts of aggression. The recidivism of a hardened criminal was surfacing in light of a potential healing process that was evolving.

"So I made up my mind to open my heart for at least five minutes to this man who just looks at people in silence. During the encounter I felt more love than I could have ever imagined -- pure love. I felt that I was loved. On precisely that day, all pain fell away from me." ... “It’s a very intense light he awakens in people.” ... "When he looked at me, I felt like someone was wiping away all my worries," said visitors from Germany, Austria and the USA after an event with Braco. It is impressive to stand in front of a person who gazes at the visitors of his events in silence. No gripping speech, no new teachings or wisdom -- especially no new religion -- just silence. Braco has the courage to stand in front of thousands of people at events and congresses. He has a gift some scientists say the world has not yet seen in this form. In 2012, Braco received a peace prize at the UN in New York. A German doctor wrote this book after his own intense experiences with Braco and his gaze. More than 70 visitors to the events with Braco have their say, including doctors, psychologists, scientists of physics, biochemistry and health sciences, as well as consciousness researchers and a theologian. The visitors' direct experiences and the scientists' expertises bring the reader closer to the unknown, which has no name but, through Braco's gaze, brings happiness and health back to people.

"Miller's Children is a comprehensive look at the consequences of the US Supreme Court's decision in the case of Miller v. Alabama, which outlawed mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile murderers. This book describes the author's fieldwork as a psychological expert witness in more than forty resentencing cases of juveniles affected by the Miller decision (and follow-up rulings), providing a wide-ranging review of research on human development in adolescence and early adulthood. It focuses on how and why convicted teenage murderers have been able to accomplish dramatic rehabilitation and transformation, emphasizing the role of spiritual development, education, reflection, and mentoring in that process."--Provided by publisher.

We stared at each other in silence, neither saying a word during that ten-second encounter as I raised my camera to take the most difficult picture of my life.