Words tumble through our thinking to be a soliloquy, but you can change what you meditate on Day and Night when you change the song.
You probably won’t hear this word spoken today, this week, or even this month.
Soliloquy.
But you will hear a soliloquy today, and you will also speak a soliloquy today. Your soliloquy is an expression of what is happening in your inner world.
To me, the word sounds musical. Something to be sung. It also sounds sad. A sad song?
Of course, it’s one of those fancy words that no one ever says, but it has a special appeal or allurement.
Soliloquy.
A ‘soliloquy’ comes ‘from Late Latin soliloquium, “a talking to oneself,” from the Latin solus “alone” (see sole (adj.)) + loqui “to speak”‘ soliloquy.
It’s a story, a narrative, an internal dialogue of words that have been rehearsed to operatic perfection, and then they dribble out as an overflow of the heart.
It could be the muttering to yourself when no one is listening—a rehearsing of long-held beliefs over and over again.
What’s your soliloquy?
Listen to your internal self-talk. Listen to the words that might slip out over the tongue and into the world.
What are the words, the story, the drama of the soul that expresses itself?
The ‘Soliloquy’ of Psalm 1
As part of the daily habit of rewiring the brain, I listen to Bible verses before I enter the day.
Today was Psalm 1. You can listen to it here on Daily Lectio.
Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1
I was drawn, in this Lectio, to the words ‘ their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, they meditate day and night.’
There is a delight, a meditation, a full 24 hours of soaking and meditating on God’s breath formed into words.
I dug a little deeper.
This word ‘meditate’ in Hebrew is the word ‘hagah’ which means to declare, devise, growl, make a sound, meditate, moan, moan sadly, mutter, ponder, and utter.
What I hear is something of a deep utterance, to the depth of a moan, from somewhere in the soul. It’s a mediation of profound depth that speaks to the core of one’s existence.
It’s to (soliloquize) meditate, muse, with בְּ of thing, Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; Psalm 63:7; Psalm 77:13; Psalm 143:5
What is your meditation? What are you going over and over again? That soliloquy of self-talk.
Day and night
Sing a new soliloquy
As I read Psalm 1, I imagine the writer sitting under some beautiful draping trees next to a quiet trickling stream that never dries up, even in the driest of summers.
They have quieted themselves and are focusing on water, wind, soil, trees rustling, and maybe even birdsong.
Out of this repose comes Psalm 1.
It’s a new song, as much as this blog post is a new writing.
But it’s not new. It’s more of a connection to the Ancient of Days and the song that began in Genesis 1 and continues to form everything.
New words to meditate on
It’s a song I need to sing both Day and Night. Over and over again.
It’s a foreign song because the words seem so opposed to all the training I have put my brain through. Something within my brain’s wiring says, ‘No, this isn’t true.’
But I alone am responsible for my brain’s wiring, and I will make it submit to the truth. So I sing a new song into the brain.
I sing truth into my thinking Day and Night that I am loved, I am held, and I am known.
Out of this music comes faith, hope, and love.
I start to see newness in my life.
As with the Psalmist, I see fruit start to form. I love a good juicy peach on a hot summer’s day under a beautiful tree next to a flowing stream. That is a taste of heaven to me.
The leaves on the tree don’t wither in the heat. Instead, they are vibrant and alive and sing in the breeze.
There is a prosperity of the soul. I am rich with presence, and fullness flows out from me.
It’s the law.
Quotes to consider
- Folded arms toil, clasped hands work. A gaze fixed on heaven is a work. Victor Hugo Les Misérables
- The key to growing any psychological resource, including compassion, is to have repeated experiences of it that get turned into lasting changes in neural structure or function. Rick Hanson
- It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister. Thomas Merton
- Real silence, real stillness, really holding one’s tongue comes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness. Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Questions to answer
- In all truth, what words do you meditate on day and night?
- How do these words shape your life and influence your relationships?
- ‘I am loved, I am held, and I am known.’ Which of these three sparks a need in you? Why?
Further reading
