Silence and wonder

Photo by: Tim Bindner

Erling Kagge wrote the book I just started called Silence in the Age of Noise. I read occasionally. I am not a neanderthal. Early in this book my wheels are spinning and thus got me to write this post you are about to read.

I am only a few chapters in, but the key topics are, as the title mentions, silence and wonder. Both topics got the wheels turning in my head.

In the book, the author mentions 3 questions. What is silence? Where is it? Why is it more important than ever? At this point in my reading, he has not found out or revealed any answers, but I wanted to weigh in on my thoughts on these questions and topics.

What is silence? To me, silence is twofold. First, there is the surrounding silence. For example, are you reading this with music on or TV in the background? Then you are not in silence. Is your phone constantly buzzing with social media feeds, text, new notifications? Then you are not in silence. When is the last time you sat in silence with no background noise for 5 minutes or longer? Can you do that?

The next part of that question is the silence within. Silence of your mind. That is a struggle I have. This feeds into wonder, which I will explore soon. We are programmed to ALWAYS have things going on or moving. Sitting at a table in a restaurant, people are on their phones. People don’t sit and have conversations. They are on their iPad’s. Even witnessed people watching movies on television while scrolling on their phones at the same time. I cannot remember the last time I saw someone just sitting on a park bench or out walking and not doing anything else (like headphones on).

Like our bodies, our minds also need to rest. This is the importance of meditation. To silence the brain and give it rest. Our body process all the noise from the day and night, and why so many of us wake up exhausted daily.

Where is it (silence)? For me, as you know, it is in nature. A quiet walk in the woods helps to slow down my brain and strive for silence. Meditation is something that can be learned and will help achieve silence with practice. There are few places in the world where silence can be found, but it is not impossible. We must search and find it individually.

Why is it important? As mentioned above. Everything must rest. Our bodies, minds and even our technology HAS to rest. There are a vast majority of people that cannot sleep at night. I included. Why? Because in our fast food, always on culture, with instant need and gratification, our brains learn to never rest. Never slow down or we may miss something. We are force-fed tons of facts, information, and stimulus every minute of the waking day.

This leads me to his next point of wonder. As children, we loved to wonder. Wonder about playing cowboys and Indians, wonder about traveling to space, wondering about life at the bottom of the ocean, wondering what it was like to have a superpower. Even negative things such as what was behind the closet door, under the bed, or down in the scary basement. My point is as kids we used our imagination and wondered. As adults, we still wonder but to lesser degrees and for more serious topics. When can I retire, how much money will I need, what diagnosis is that latest medical test going to show, will I get a raise, will I get laid off at work, can I trust so and so? Mostly negative things. The lack of imaginary wonder has also been squashed by technology. I can Google any topic and likely get an answer or multiple answers. Google even provides different perspectives and conveniently gives us links to those answers.

Has our ability to wonder been stifled by technology? When is the last time you sat and let your mind wonder to positive places like a dream vacation destination, what you would do if you won the lottery or maybe a romantic getaway? Does your mind automatically wonder to bills, work projects, chores, family struggles, etc.?

I hope this short 112-page book I am reading will provide some answers or insights into my journey for peace. As the days warm up, I plan to spend some time outside staring at the clouds above and letting my mind wonder. Wonder with a purpose of positivity and not worry. I also continue to meditate and strive for some inner peace.

The advancements in our world have taken us back mentally to the stone ages. I hope silence speaks to me. I hope I can learn to find inner peace. I hope and wish the same for you.

Until next time,

Tim