"There is a fundamental disconnect between a mind that drinks from the well of silence, and one that relies almost exclusively on language. A healthy and mature mind functions organically and focuses away from itself, while understanding that language can only ever be provisional, dualistic, and self-referential. Religious language--or any language--thus becomes distorted when silence is no longer the ground from which it emerges and to which it returns. This relationship between silence, language, and behavior is the same for atheist scientists as religious non-scientists: science is a series of metaphors about what we can measure; religion is a series of metaphors about what we can't. Both can be useful; both can inflict horrors on the world."

-- Maggie Ross, Silence: A User's Guide