Meditation of one kind is being quiet enough to watch your thoughts and feelings rise up while you "see" and feel them form...while you inhabit the space where they come from.
I've always enjoyed silence and always enjoyed sitting and simply observing. Not much for the all-time-phone thing. I frequently leave it at home.
When I lived in the states, there was a park I would go to, lie down in the grass, and for an hour or so just observe the world with my eyes closed. Sounds kind of weird, but I suppose I was observing my internal world which in a real sense is where I've always been most comfortable.
I love silence in the morning. I don't want to talk, just think and allow the deliciousness to be. Hey, doesn't always work out that way, but it is something I deliberately seek. Thanks again.
Wow never considered how with the scarcity of silence, it should be considered a luxury - brilliant! Enjoyed this piece - as always - and the footnotes, especially the last one! In my 20s, i llived above a friend of mine who would just go about her days in utter silence. I found it completely unhinged ha, like the idea of silence was an absurd terror. And yet when i quit drinking in my late 20s, suddenly, i was down with silence - still am to this day - love it immensely. When I had my first bout of tinnitus this year, i felt like i'd lost a dear old friend - silence.
After reading this and the comments, I’m attempting to inventory how many moments per day I spend in true silence.
I prepare and eat breakfast in silence but I do look at my phone when I eat breakfast. Curious detail: I eat breakfast in almost darkness. Only two (artificial) flickering candles light up the space.
I shower in silence.
I walk and exercise in silence.
I can feel the technology pull and plead for attention. I can still resist it, but for how long?
Right-O, synchronized heart beat on that! It appears as though a consumer culture propagates consuming at all costs. Even consumption of "being." Perhaps this is a far stretch, but the culture seems to be consuming itself. A decade ago, I ran into dire straights financially. Due to the need to survive, I strictly cut my consumption habits. The discovery that my life was dramatically enhanced & enriched by a new paradigm concerning consuming was a lasting & liberating gift. I'm back to my childhood pleasures that cost $0, nature & silence - "being" present without spending $ & without eroding myself. I'm a an older person & a lifelong visual artist. Making art can become VERY expensive. So, I've even returned to the simple pleasure of drawing....
I'm a Brit, and I notice that almost everybody walks along with their eyes glued to their phone, and with an ear thing in their ear. I love silence, but there seems to be almost a fear of it: think of how many tv programmes or Youtube videos have (so-called) music droning on in the background even when someone is speaking. I mean: why?! I think we have to practise silence too. One of my favourite quotes, which I try to live by, especially in meetings, is from Salvator Rosa: Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence.
Back before threads were Threads™, I wrote a simple one about silence (https://twitter.com/vitabenes/status/1060478476074041344). I still remember that day, though I tend to forget the lesson of it, too often. Your piece is a good reminder.
Great insight and observation. I didn’t really understand silence until I spent my first hour in a sensory deprivation tank at FloatSpot. Watching my brain grasp on to any, ANY nuance of sound or rhythm in the vacuum was incredible, and then it ultimately created visual fireworks for some amount of time, then gave up and succumbed to the auditory and visual nirvana that is being truly alone.
Somehow, my inner voice is almost always louder than anything else. For that reason, whether a track has lyrics or not, whether I’m with earbuds or not, whether I’m in a work meeting, strolling through the city, commuting, or even having dinner with friends – any surrounding sounds at any moment can become just an accompanying background noise if my inner voice transcends it. I don’t know if that’s a virtue or vice, a curse or a blessing, but one thing for which I’m grateful to it is, any degree of silence is as bearable- or pleasant- as any kind of noise, either in solitude or in amidst the gurgling crowd. Perhaps, controlling one’s inner voice is another topic... btw I’m not mental (I wish to think so). Anyways, great essay, cheers!
Great article. But black and white noise helps me a lot ( crows, street noise), although I prefer without. And yes, great ideas surface while walking in silence!
Strikes me yet again how closely related to my week your weekend's essays give on an outline, Bevan. May be the wonders of being forever watchful and writing, your panopticon as an artist does seem to increase....
The silence and lack of distractions is what I enjoy the most about getting off the grid and going backpacking, something I haven’t done nearly enough of lately. But inspired by this article, I’m going to take a long walk this evening. Not sure I can leave my phone behind but it’ll be in a deep pocket in my backpack.
Meditation of one kind is being quiet enough to watch your thoughts and feelings rise up while you "see" and feel them form...while you inhabit the space where they come from.
I really love this ☺️
Lovely article, Thomas. Thanks.
I've always enjoyed silence and always enjoyed sitting and simply observing. Not much for the all-time-phone thing. I frequently leave it at home.
When I lived in the states, there was a park I would go to, lie down in the grass, and for an hour or so just observe the world with my eyes closed. Sounds kind of weird, but I suppose I was observing my internal world which in a real sense is where I've always been most comfortable.
I love silence in the morning. I don't want to talk, just think and allow the deliciousness to be. Hey, doesn't always work out that way, but it is something I deliberately seek. Thanks again.
I like the riff. An inversion... sort of a utopia.
P.S. I *think* you're in your 30s, but i have to remind myself on the daily you aren't 70.
Wow never considered how with the scarcity of silence, it should be considered a luxury - brilliant! Enjoyed this piece - as always - and the footnotes, especially the last one! In my 20s, i llived above a friend of mine who would just go about her days in utter silence. I found it completely unhinged ha, like the idea of silence was an absurd terror. And yet when i quit drinking in my late 20s, suddenly, i was down with silence - still am to this day - love it immensely. When I had my first bout of tinnitus this year, i felt like i'd lost a dear old friend - silence.
After reading this and the comments, I’m attempting to inventory how many moments per day I spend in true silence.
I prepare and eat breakfast in silence but I do look at my phone when I eat breakfast. Curious detail: I eat breakfast in almost darkness. Only two (artificial) flickering candles light up the space.
I shower in silence.
I walk and exercise in silence.
I can feel the technology pull and plead for attention. I can still resist it, but for how long?
Right-O, synchronized heart beat on that! It appears as though a consumer culture propagates consuming at all costs. Even consumption of "being." Perhaps this is a far stretch, but the culture seems to be consuming itself. A decade ago, I ran into dire straights financially. Due to the need to survive, I strictly cut my consumption habits. The discovery that my life was dramatically enhanced & enriched by a new paradigm concerning consuming was a lasting & liberating gift. I'm back to my childhood pleasures that cost $0, nature & silence - "being" present without spending $ & without eroding myself. I'm a an older person & a lifelong visual artist. Making art can become VERY expensive. So, I've even returned to the simple pleasure of drawing....
I'm a Brit, and I notice that almost everybody walks along with their eyes glued to their phone, and with an ear thing in their ear. I love silence, but there seems to be almost a fear of it: think of how many tv programmes or Youtube videos have (so-called) music droning on in the background even when someone is speaking. I mean: why?! I think we have to practise silence too. One of my favourite quotes, which I try to live by, especially in meetings, is from Salvator Rosa: Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence.
Back before threads were Threads™, I wrote a simple one about silence (https://twitter.com/vitabenes/status/1060478476074041344). I still remember that day, though I tend to forget the lesson of it, too often. Your piece is a good reminder.
Great insight and observation. I didn’t really understand silence until I spent my first hour in a sensory deprivation tank at FloatSpot. Watching my brain grasp on to any, ANY nuance of sound or rhythm in the vacuum was incredible, and then it ultimately created visual fireworks for some amount of time, then gave up and succumbed to the auditory and visual nirvana that is being truly alone.
Somehow, my inner voice is almost always louder than anything else. For that reason, whether a track has lyrics or not, whether I’m with earbuds or not, whether I’m in a work meeting, strolling through the city, commuting, or even having dinner with friends – any surrounding sounds at any moment can become just an accompanying background noise if my inner voice transcends it. I don’t know if that’s a virtue or vice, a curse or a blessing, but one thing for which I’m grateful to it is, any degree of silence is as bearable- or pleasant- as any kind of noise, either in solitude or in amidst the gurgling crowd. Perhaps, controlling one’s inner voice is another topic... btw I’m not mental (I wish to think so). Anyways, great essay, cheers!
Great article. But black and white noise helps me a lot ( crows, street noise), although I prefer without. And yes, great ideas surface while walking in silence!
So beautiful and pertinent. Silence never lies, true. Thank you for this reminder.
Strikes me yet again how closely related to my week your weekend's essays give on an outline, Bevan. May be the wonders of being forever watchful and writing, your panopticon as an artist does seem to increase....
The silence and lack of distractions is what I enjoy the most about getting off the grid and going backpacking, something I haven’t done nearly enough of lately. But inspired by this article, I’m going to take a long walk this evening. Not sure I can leave my phone behind but it’ll be in a deep pocket in my backpack.