My Liberal Identity:
You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.
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Listening in Silence
Many people cannot abide silence, for whatever reason. They cannot drive their cars without the radio or some other noise...err...music device operating at all times. Similarly, there are those who have the TV on all the time, even if they are not sitting down actively watching it.
I've found that the older I get, the more I can tolerate silence and even appreciate it at times. Like most teenagers, I used to listen to music nearly all the time, the louder, the better, and I'd do my homework by it. I still like cranking up the music from time to time, but I find myself listening to talk radio more and more, and sometimes, even driving down the road in silence, alone with my thoughts. If I have a passenger in the car, I usually turn the radio off, as I usually prefer to engage in conversation.
But I've never been one who had to have a TV going all the time. I only turn the TV on if I'm going to sit down and actually watch. Otherwise, it stays off, saving me some electricity. I'm baffled by those who don't turn off the TV when they have guests, especially when the purpose of the visit isn't to watch TV together.
Sometimes, I will sit still, close my eyes, and empty my mind of busy thought, and be conscious of the silence. But it's not really silence, as in the total absence of sound, but rather, it's the small daily-life sounds no one notices in the usual cacophony of their typical days. It's the hum of a refrigerator, the whirring of a fan, the whoosh of cars passing in the street, the chirping of birds and crickets, the moan of a train's horn, the roar of a lawn mower, and so on.
I've found that engaging in this periodically will many times inspire me to write, and will even sometimes bring on a feeling of contentment that I can't quite explain.
Thoughts?
This is exactly the kind of conversation I've been having with people here
in Baltimore and a beautiful description of your own experience.! Do you
mind if I quote you, or do you mind posting something on my own blog -
speakingofsilence.blogspot.org? Your voice would help start a great
dialogue there, I think! Cheers...
Feel free to use all or part of this blog entry, just so long as you credit
it back to me.
I have to admit that I'm enjoying the silence as I get older. I used to
always have the TV on just for noise, but now, I find I think better
without anything on. Of course with a kid in the house, I've also learned
to drown out a lot of noise!
It's kind of sick, but there are advantages to loosing your hearing. Quiet
time in a noisy world can be a good thing.
--W--, you'd fit in all right with the Quakers, at least in this regard!
The Quaker school I teach at, like many such schools, has a weekly "Meeting
for Worship." This isn't really a church service like some private schools
used to have mandatory chapel. The Quaker way of worship is just sitting in
silence and waiting for God to speak through you. If you feel that you have
a message to share, you stand up and speak to the community, but it's not
that unusual for us to go the whole half hour without anyone speaking.
Obviously, I don't believe that God is speaking, but it is nice to have
some enforced silence to just sit and think, and it's probably not a bad
thing for our students, either, to have to sit and be alone with their
thoughts for a little while.
I prefer silence a lot of the time. I only have the TV on to watch it, and
in the car I may listen to music, NPR, or nothing. I do not own an iPod
because I don't get the whole "music all the time" thing. I cannot write
if I'm listening to something with words. I tend to sing along.
