The Symphony of Silence

I don't read many novels because I prefer the sometimes raw reality of non-fiction.  Many people have explained that their love of works of fiction stems from a desire to escape.  I get it.  Being transported to another time, place, or circumstance can do for us what a vacation can do but it doesn't cost as much.  On one occasion I read a period novel.  I'm really not sure what came over me and moved me to the dark side of reading fiction but I did.  I don't recall the name of the book or most of the plot of this novel, but I vividly remember the opening scene of the book.

The setting was in the 17or 1800's.  A young woman, perhaps in her 20's or early 30's was sitting alone in a dark sitting room of her home where she lived alone.  She sat in a rocking chair.  It was dark as the sun had long past set.  Electricity didn't service the home therefore, there were no lights.  Of couse she had lamps and candles but none were lit. There was only the glow of the fireplace causing light to flicker off of her face and long dress as she stared into it mesmerized by the flames.  She sat there for some time as she gently rocked the chair adjacent to the hearth.  The woman was in a near trancelike state as the combination of the warmth and the dancing fire drew her in.  The quiet, and the peace washed everything that may have been occupying her mind.  Suddenly she flinched.  Something broke her laser like gaze and caused her to flinch look into the dark room in wonder.  What was it that startled her so suddenly?  She experienced something very strange.  Something almost foreign.  It was unique to her, and for a moment she began to feel a twinge of excitement.  Then she realized what had happened, what had suddenly fractured her quiet moments.   She had a thought! 

The author explained that she had not experienced many of her own thoughts.  Because she hadn't, it was almost frightening when she experienced it.  It's not as if she didn't think.  There was plenty on her mind before she sat in that dark room in solitude.  She had been a student for most of her life as had many other young people like her.  She read the newspaper.  She read books.  She read the Bible.  Many people in her life shared their ideas and thoughts, but she very rarely had a thought that she could call her very own.  But that night, that thought, her thought, presented itself to that young lady. 

Perhaps it was the setting, the silence and tranquility of that dark room with the mesmerizing singular light which allowed a very small seed which had been planted in the womb of her mind to be fertilized and nurtured just enough to allow her to give birth to a living and very real thought of her own. 

I used to use that story in my Introduction to Philosophy classes I taught in our city community college (Go Humans! IYKYK) to teach my students the value of thinking.  And thinking about thinking, which is the essence of philosophy. Critical thinking is critical, but first, thinking is critical.  

Not many of us have that experience.  Of course we think!  But like the young gal in our novel, we are spoon fed so much.  We are told things.  There isn't anything necessarily wrong with that, because information is a necessary tool for the whole thought process.  But rarely do we have the experience of having a thought or an idea that we can own, causing us the same kind of adrenaline rush of an explorer who discovers a new wonder of the world which causes him to yell, "EUREKA!".

Why is that?  Why is it that it seems like the era of innovation and invention is largely see in our rear view mirror?  Why is it that there are seemingly so few folks who seem to have any level of depth in their communication?  Why is it that dialogue seems to be combative and irrational rather than being conducive to achieve greater understanding?  In my opinion, we have become too lazy.  In this age of information it's too easy to Google something than it is to recall.  It's easier to be spoon fed information than to actually think an issue through independent of a so-called expert.  I don't think we do a lot of thinking on our own.  Why is that?  Maybe we could learn something from our young fictitious character.  Perhaps she was able to produce a personal thought because her soul was made intensely fertile because she listened to the symphony of silence.

Silence.  What is that?  As I write I'm on the patio hearing the dogs do their job of barking to alert me to the activity next door as family and friends are making an incredible amount of noise, presumably having fun for a man's birthday.  I hear traffic noise from the highway south of us.  I hear locusts serenading in the tree line behind the back fence.  I hear the soft taps of the keyboard as wind blows through the limbs of the aforementioned trees.  There may be more but I think I've become accustomed to unconsciously block some of it out simply to maintain a certain level of questionable sanity. 

We constantly have 'noise' around us.  It's becoming more difficult as time marches on to find even wilderness where there isn't the hum of  traffic or airplanes which shatter the quiet.  TV, radio,  social media, crowds of people at games or other venues, conversations, machines...ad infinitum.  Rare are the times, and perhaps it's next to impossible to find a place where silence dominates.  

As I've been thinking about this (!), I've come to believe that we actually create noise.  When we have so much noise around us as it is, why in the world would we generate more??  I think we're scared.  Yep.  I think cowardice may drive us to have to live in the clutter of disquiet.  Scared of what, you say?  I think our own minds scare us.  I've joke about my mind scaring me but there seems to be some legitimacy to the one-liner.  Why can't we sleep at night?  What stresses us out?  What occupies our minds?  Most of us typically have a lot on our minds.  From time to time our past creeps in to dominate our consciousness.  There are problems with relationships, problems with work, struggles with habits, and many struggles with life which clutter and clog our mind, sometimes to the point of distraction or worse, causing our body to rebel in an attempt to reject it all.

What do we do?  What's the first thing you do when there is a possibility of silence or solitude? We turn on the TV.  We go to a game.  We go to the casino, drink a few, smoke a bowl, shoot up, porn, light up, read a book, turn up the music, inappropriate relationships, eat sugar or comfort food, porn, do yard work or a hobby,  unending social media scrolling and arguing with absolute strangers, work longer and harder...the list is pretty much endless. Noise takes many forms, but it these things are noise indeed. 

Instead of turning on the symphony of silence, we push out the problem to be thought through, managed, or brought to resolution with noise.  Lots of noise.  Most of the time it's medication for the pain and discomfort caused by the problems living in our head.  We shove them back, stuff them into our subconscious or unconscious minds to exist.  The unfortunate reality is that the problems don't remain static, they grow, fester, become infected and manifest themselves in some very horrific monstrous and many times destructive ways.  We medicate and distract ourselves with all of those forms of noise. We will do pretty much anything rather than face the Goliath of those struggles, painful memories, habits, or relationships.

Many of us are Jesus followers.  We hear one another say that we don't understand why God seems so distant, uncaring, or silent regarding the things going on in our lives.  Hmmm.  I wonder why that is?  Perhaps you have the volume turned up so high that the still small voice is being drowned out.  Perhaps you've distracted yourself with so much noise that you've not sat down with the Father and your problem that you've struggled and suffered with long enough to think.  

What did Jesus do when he faced problems, was stressed, or was tired.  He went somewhere by himself to listen to the symphony of silence.  He was never alone. He invited his Father along.  It seems like the only way he could work through those things, bringing about resolution rather than stuffing or ignoring them (hoping they'd go away?), was by removing all distractions including his friends, finding solitude and quiet so he could both think and listen for the voice of his Father who is the only source of wisdom.  He didn't go by himself to figure it out on his own.  He didn't qualify any of it as good or bad (tree of the knowledge of good and bad?).  He just carried it into the place of quiet so that his mind could be dominated by the symphony of silence. 

I'm pretty sure that's part of what the seventh day Sabbath was intended to be.  24 hours of relative silence in order to focus, to think, to listen, to hear, and to heal.  The Bible was intended to be meditation literature to be heard and thought about.  I wonder why we say the bible is so hard to understand?  

Are you tired of carrying that around with you constantly?  You most likely won't do it with all of that noise.  Time to turn off the TV.  Wouldn't you rather finally heal rather than constantly medicate?  Time to stop with the destructive behaviors and substances.  Time to put the phone or laptop away and leave the cat videos to obnoxious keyboard warriors. Time to put away whatever noise it is that YOU use to crank up the volume to distract. Perhaps innovation and invention will return.  Maybe fresh ideas will again emerge.  Perhaps solutions and cures will finally be found.  Perhaps there will be original thoughts once more.  And these can come from YOU!  Let's hear more "EUREKA" from discovery, and more "I'M FINALLY FREE" from being healed. I think it's time to....

Get alone.

In the quiet.

With Jesus.

Enjoy the symphony  FG