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Sounds of Silence

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Most of us would agree that there is not a lot of opportunity to experience the sounds of silence in today's society. Inundated we are with sensory stimuli, and then with our own thoughts, about 60,000 of them a day apparently. Our bodies and minds process 2.3 million bits of information per second, (don’t ask me who counted!). Fortunately we don't have to pay attention to all those pieces of information -- our minds are fairly adept at filtering out what is unnecessary. But is there such a thing as sensory overload? Do we have too much input? Perhaps I hear a resounding ‘yes’ from the reader! I know that all I have to do is drive down a busy street, and that sometimes picking at a stoplight amongst all the other lights and sounds that are there as distractions can be tricky. And music! It’s everywhere!

As Andrew Waggoner in “The Colonization of Silence” puts it:
“Just give me five minutes without it [music]; that’s all I ask, perhaps all I’ll need to bring it back into being for myself. Imprisoned by it as I am now, assaulted in every store, elevator, voice-mail system, passing car, neighbor’s home, by it and its consequent immolation in the noise of the quotidian, it is lost to me as anything other than a kind of psychic rape, a forced intimacy with sonic partners not of my choosing. When music is everywhere, it is nowhere; when everything is music, nothing is. Silence is as crucial to the musical experience as any of its sounding parameters, and not merely as a kind of acoustical “negative space.” Silence births, nurtures, and eventually takes back the musical utterance; it shapes both the formation of its textures and the arc of its progress through time.”

I experienced silence and stillness on a couple of occasions recently, and I was struck by how much peace they can bring. One such time I was sitting on a promontory overlooking the Minas Basin on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. There is not a lot of sound there to begin with, maybe the occasional shore bird or the lap of waves as the tide comes in. What struck me was that the opportunity to appreciate the silence between those sounds was ever present. When we hear the gaps between sounds – what might be called ‘quiet’ – there is an ever increasing sense of peace that seems to pervade. In a way the sounds themselves become a gateway to quiet – in the gaps between the sounds. Perhaps in the same way when we are meditating or just contemplating, we can ‘listen’ for those sounds of silence and in them find some peacefulness. Time seems to slow down in those moments and there is a rejuvenation of body and mind.

Finding those moments in a busy day can be tricky. Sure – we can take a moment and close our eyes, and the visual stimulus disappears. But even if we put earplugs in the actual sounds can still be heard. And even if in a quiet room we may find that we can still ‘hear’ our inner voice chattering away at remembering, hoping, anticipating, worrying etc. So here is something to consider now so that later you can have a different experience than the busyness of life around you. Listen for the spaces between the sounds; listen for the pause, the gap, where there is nothing – no thing. Just notice it.

Sometimes when we see something still, it enables stillness within us. Recently a small turtle ventured out of our garden pond, its head and tail perfectly aligned as if pointing itself in a certain direction. But what struck me was its ability to stay so, so still; and in fact, in order to observe it I had to be still as well! Not just externally but also internally in awe of its ability! Stillness watching stillness. Just quiet.

I think when we get still inside something powerful happens, even if it’s for a moment, we settle. No equipment is required, and no batteries! Just a willingness to stop for a moment, and listen to the sound of silence.

© Edward Leyton MD 2007