Saturday, March 21

Reflection on Silence by Amy Boyd

Gordon Hempton, acoustic ecologist, considers silence to be not the absence of sound, but the absence of noise.  As I’ve been dwelling on silence in preparation for this reflection, I’ve thought about this definition and tried to figure out, then, what noise is. Last week, during a hike, I sat by Deep Creek in the Smokies, my feet in the water, not able to hear anything but the thundering sound of the water over the rocks. I wondered: is that noise? Is noise just loud sounds, or is it a word describing things that assault our senses in an unpleasant, unsettling, or undesirable way? If so, then for me, noise would not just refer to sounds, but also to billboards, and to those videos playing at gas pumps. It would be the words scrolling endlessly on news shows, and a riot of perfumes wafting from the centers of department stores. It would include the garbage piled up by the river after the hurricane, and the lies coming from amplified voices of power in our society. 

Perhaps noise is anything that takes my attention away from that which most deserves my attention. And if that’s the case, then silence would be a lack of these things, a state allowing me to focus on that which most deserves my attention.  

Gordon Hempton writes, in his book, One Square Inch of Silence: 

"Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything . . . It is the presence of time, undisturbed. It can be felt within the chest. Silence nurtures our nature, our human nature, and lets us know who we are. Left with a more receptive mind and a more attuned ear, we become better listeners not only to nature but to each other."

Truly quiet places are endangered in our world today, almost extinct, and with the loss of quiet, it can become more difficult to find the peace we seek.  

If you're interested in knowing more about Gordon Hempton's work and thinking about silence, listen to his wonderful On Being interview with Krista Tippett.  However, don't let that get in the way of or replace your own practice of silence. Start with your own silence, whenever and wherever you can find it.