THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE

     Have you ever had someone 'shhh !' you?  I suppose that we typically hear that as a kind of reprimand.  Simon and Garfunkle in their early song, The Sounds of Silence, warned that "silence like a cancer grows".  And, used as a weapon of retaliation, silence can put great strain on a relationship. Receiving the 'Silent Treatment' from someone important to us is usually unpleasant.
    Conversely, respite from constant and sometimes necessary sounds can create a safety zone for our beleagured ears and spirits.
My paternal grand-father wore an 'old-fashioned' hearing aid with the battery and volume control resting in his shirt pocket and a long cord extending to the earpiece.  When the noise level became too much, he would reach into his pocket and mute the sound.
    To say the obvious, hardly all sounds are unpleasant.  One of my favorite sounds is that of the pre-dawn lapping of waves on the beach. (best enjoyed with a cup of coffee).
    Silence can have its benefits.  I alert new counselees that silence can be a powerful part of our sessions and is meant as respect for them to 'listen to themselves'.  A counselee once became silent after ten minutes of conversation.  I likewise remained silent for the duration of the session.  After 40 minutes, I gently noted that our time had expired.  She said, "this has been helpful".  I guess that we often talk so much that (as my dad was fond of saying) 'we can't hear ourselves think'.
   Now, there are persons for whom the quiet is unpleasant and unsettling and they donot want to 'hear themselves think'.  Many ministers report that silent places in a worship service become distressful for their congregants after a very few seconds.  External quiet does not necessarily mute the internal cacophony...what my elders called a 'racket'.
    My  friend of many years arises EARLY  every morning to meditate and to journal.  He says that 90% of praying is "just showing up".  I admire his discipline but also know that there are additional ways of listening to our thoughts and our spirits, an innately 'worthy' endeavor as well as providing the added benefit
 of making living in the world of sound more fulfilling.  Try sitting quietly for ten or fifteen minutes and listen for what you may 'hear'.


     SHHHH !
         Satchel