Rev. Jeremiah Lideen, M. Div. | Jan 21, 2020
“There is no argument needed for the necessity of taking time for being alone, for withdrawal, for being quiet without and still within. The sheer physical necessity is urgent because the body and the entire nervous system cry out for the healing waters of silence…seek each day, and several times a day, a lull in the rhythm of daily doing, a period when nothing happens that demands active participation.” — "A Lull in the Rhythm of Doing" by Rev. Howard Thurman
"BREAKING NEWS! Urgent! This just in!"
I’m anxious, and I just wrote those words knowing quite well what was coming. I can’t imagine how you experience them. Well, not necessarily these ones, this time.
But, what about the daily insistence and waves of reaction and responsibility pulling at your ears and eyes and attention? Even when we rest from our immediate and local responsibilities, we are scooped into the rest of the world’s urgency for activity. (The capital letters really drive home the interruption, don’t they?)
Gordon Hempton is an acoustic ecologist; he looks for the quietest places on earth. He says it takes over four weeks of searching and four days of recording to get a mere 15 minutes of unadulterated natural silence. He has spent his life doing this work, searching for what our ears have missed for too long.
My mind never really stops moving through lists, conversations, ideas, and all that could be! I need help to make it settle. Do yourself a great favor today and find your place, quiet of noise and responsibility. It may be everything you’ve needed – but you just couldn’t hear it.
