Currently Remember September - Boom Jinx & Thomas J. Bergersen
The Flickr Effect
Recent Projects
The Bag Factory
SpringArtTour 2009
The Power of Silence
[Photo courtesy of circo de invierno ~]How incredibly hard it is to find this precious commodity! Have you ever wondered why we need to sleep? The common answer is because we need rest. Personally I don’t buy that. In silence we return to an aspect of the true source of all power, the one source of all creation.. where we let go of stimulation from the senses and for several hours every night experience the deep peace of our souls. Woaaah Ryan, that’s a pretty weird claim you’ve got going there. Yeah? Prove me wrong! Many scientists are still studying this age-old necessity and have not come up with definitive answers. If there’s one thing I have learnt in life.. nothing is what it seems. I take most things these days with a grain of salt.. especially scientific conclusions.
It has been well documented that sleep deprivation causes dysfunction of the body/mind and results in such effects as paranoia. This author has experienced this first hand, and in meditation has found an answer in the power of silence. I say again.. how incredibly hard it is find this precious commodity! I take a step back from everyday earthly existence and notice that the only time it’s truly available to me is in the evenings. We live in a society of noise addiction.. the unbelievably ugly noise of starting up a car or angry motorists hooting in traffic.. or perhaps the yapping of a colleague throughout the day bringing full circle the meaningless of office politics. Whatever it is, we are addicts.. this is clear.
So here’s a challenge: grab a pair of earplugs, switch off your tv in the evening, close your door, switch off the light, shut the hell up and listen to the sound of silence. Simon and Garfunkel weren’t kidding, there’s really something there.. it’s just we’re too distracted to sit and listen. My guess is, the majority who even try this exercise will give up a few minutes in, because they have been life trained to do something instead of just sitting and listening. Sitting in silence after all is just a waste of time now isn’t it? Seriously, if that’s your take, then go back to the idle entertainment you can’t do without.. but maybe I’ve underestimated you, maybe just maybe you have the guts to stick it out and experience the experience of silence. But remember, silence is silence.. silence is not you listening to a soft melody in the background or the constant hum of vehicles in the air because you live by the freeway ( in which case you’re probably shit out of luck).
I would love to hear from people who’ve tried this for say a month and have learnt some things from the process. I have learnt an absolute ton from my own experiences. One of the most important epiphanies being the attention of bigger issues into focus, forcing you to deal with instead of hiding them under an almost perpetual carpet of noise. Silence is one of the most overlooked secrets in mastering your life. They don’t say
Silence is Golden
for nothing.. now do they?
[...] not awareness, it is distraction.. pure and simple. Awareness is heightened with that simple tool silence. Silence can be experienced in a number of ways, primarily meditation.. but you do not need to be [...]
I felt emotional when reading this blog of yours… (sigh)
I feel that we are at our most fragile and vulnerable in the morning… not in a weak way though.