A Meditation on Awareness, the Silent Voice Within, and the Return of the Feminine Philosopher

“Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue… cut away all that is excessive… until you see the perfect splendor.”
— Plotinus

There’s a question older than any religion or philosophy: Who are we, really?
Not our roles, not our stories, not even our thoughts, but we, the ones experiencing all of it.

To answer that question, stillness is essential.
We need to go within.
We need to become silent.

This is the paradox and power behind the name The Silent Philosopher. It doesn’t just refer to the practice of turning inward to discover our essence – what many traditions call the soul, the Self, or pure awareness – but also to the feminine voice of philosophy itself. The one that’s been silenced for too long. We’ve elevated the logos and crushed the sophia. Without her, the world has no balance.

Awareness: The Watcher of the Thinker

Mindfulness meditation teaches us to observe our thoughts rather than follow them. When we get there, we start to experience something amazing: we are not our thoughts; we’re the ones watching the thoughts.

“The most momentous thing in human life is the art of seeing.”
~ Diotima, via Plato’s Symposium

The ancient priestess-philosopher Diotima taught Socrates, and us, that a genuine love of wisdom doesn’t start with knowledge, but with sight… seeing beauty, seeing truth beyond forms. It seems Plato’s ideas on forms may have developed from a woman’s intuition, too.

But in contemplative meditation and visualization, we go through similar steps…

As we detach from our outer identities – name, family, job title, our identities as mother/father, daughter/son, sick/healthy, rich/poor, and the thoughts that drive us crazy – we meet what many traditions call the Self… the silent watcher. And when this awareness arises, so does our true nature. And that’s where healing begins.

The Silent Philosopher as Feminine Voice

“A woman’s soul is harmony, beauty, and order… she brings forth wisdom in silence, not noise.”
~ Theano, Pythagorean philosopher and wife of Pythagoras

The Silent Philosopher also refers to the voice of the feminine in philosophy, but often left out.

On Wednesday, we talked about Theano and her contributions to both mathematics and feminine wisdom through numbers. Her teachings were rooted in grace, not power.

What about Hildegard of Bingen, who was a medieval Christian mystic? She spoke of divine femininity as music, too, which in turn is the healing power of the soul. Sounds like she might have gotten her hands on Theano’s work. A famous quote from her goes like this…

“The soul is kissed by God in its innermost regions. With interior yearning, grace and blessing are bestowed.”

~ Hildegard of Bingen

From these women, we learn that silence is not quiet; it’s where harmony resides. And where there’s harmony, there’s presence. And from presence comes wisdom.

The Hidden Mother and the Holy Spirit

“You may blaspheme the Father. You may blaspheme the Son. But do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit.”
— Jesus, Gospel of Matthew

This passage has perplexed priests, pastors, and ministers from all denominations alike for centuries. But, remember, the word for Spirit in Hebrew is Ruach, and in Greek, Pneuma. These are feminine, not just grammatically but spiritually. And once the male ego lets go and accepts this, it becomes blatantly clear…

Jesus may as well have said:

You can talk bad about my Father, you can talk bad about me… but don’t you dare talk bad about my Momma!

Think about it…who’s the graceful one in the family, mom or dad?

For 2,000 years, we’ve blasphemed her. We’ve denied her, renamed her, and re-gendered her. But the Spirit is the dove, the mother, the Sophia we’ve renamed “He.” Yet she is the divine feminine from which Jesus learned to teach. To deny her is to lose balance, and we’ve seen the consequences: separation, greed, hatred, war, and despair.

A Return to Grace

The voices of Theano, Hildegard, and even Jesus remind us: the wisdom we seek isn’t somewhere out there, it’s within us.

This blog, The Silent Philosopher, doesn’t exist to silence the masculine; it’s here to unite us. To create the grace we’ve lost in our modern society.

In silence, awareness rises.
With awareness, we remember who we are.
And by remembering, true wisdom and grace appear.

What do you say?

Let’s Philosophize!