Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 16, 2010

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has
turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents
machines and devices that increase noise and distract
humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.

Jean Arp, French sculptor, painter & poet,
born on this date, 1887


I am one of the very fortunate few. We live in a quiet place – a “seniors’ park” in California, in an area on the Central Coast where there are many places to go “in the country” where nothing can be heard but the wind and the song of birds or the ocean. We must be in the top 1% of human beings. And, we can go to monasteries or convents or other such places for time in a place where Silence is valued and nurtured.

Plus, Dennis and I are “contemplative” folk. We talk when we wish. But we can be together for hours and say little or nothing, enjoying the Silence, aware of each other and our surroundings, but not driven to chatter. This Silence we find nurturing and humanizing.

Even in the midst of “machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity”, Silence can be deliberately created. I agree with Jean Arp: inner and outer Noise breaks down “the essence of life” and shuts out the contemplation and meditation what all humans need to remain sane and atuned to the Mystery that Life is.

Brian+