It seems to me that a mountain is an image of the soul as it lifts itself up in contemplation. For in the same manner as the mountain towers above the valleys and lowlands at its foot, so does the soul of the one who prays mount into the higher regions up to God like an eagle taking wing.
Silence admits of many degrees ... but the greatest silence is that of our spirit with God's Spirit: Heart speaks to heart in silence, the language of self-surrendering love.