Noise takes up room. Clatter and clamor can make any space feel crowded. Against a sudden onslaught of sound, the body hunches down, closing in to protect itself.
Silence, on the other hand, feels like spaciousness. My body responds to the quiet with an expansion of interior space, where lungs can fill to capacity, drawing a full, deep, calming breath.
A friend accustomed to the crowded city of Hong Kong once told me that sharing small apartments had taught her to create space with silence. Refraining from unnecessary talk or sound helped to ease the stress of tight living quarters.
Why would we refuse the expansiveness that silence offers? With our constant flow of media, we behave like children of the valley, accustomed to narrow views of what lies above and unnerved by the full dome of surrounding sky. In filling our lives with walls of sound, we deny ourselves the chance to experience the exhilarating infinity of creation and the specificity of it that we embody.
Beneath an expanse of stars we experience both our smallness and our place within the infinite universe. In a similar way, when we enter into silence we experience a moment as limitless and ourselves as part of what time cannot measure and space cannot contain.
Silence makes room for the unexpected. It allows us to listen for what we might otherwise miss. Silence is a space in which we can come to see ourselves as belonging, and to know ourselves as loved.
How do you experience silence? Is it stressful or relaxing? What do you notice about your interior life when you find a quiet moment?
The last few years I purposely don’t turn on radio or TV during the day or while I am driving the car. I l love the concept of creating a space around you for silence, great visual.
It is difficult to create that space in a house of noise. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for your friend in Hong Kong but I find that encouraging she did it. thanks for sharing.
I like the idea of creating a quiet space for yourself when you’re driving, and it has me thinking about how the quiet enables a driver to be present in the task and more aware of others on the road. One way of making the world a little better. Thanks for sharing your practice!
Thank you for your thoughts on silence. I lead retreats of Song and Silence . I find the combination of these realities to be healing and powerful for those who experience them.
Your retreats sound interesting.
Silence even within a song can be powerful, a rest can be such an important part of phrasing.