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out-of-duh-box stuff
September 2009 
The Sounds of Silence
Posted on Jun 30th, 2007
by 
Praveer
Praveer
Still waters
I’m considering this fundamental thing that we call silence.
I have no clue of what silence actually is. I say that because – where do we actually create silence?
In our words.
In some language.
In our heads.
We say, “It’s so silent, this mountain, or that beach, or looking through a telescope into the deeps of space.”
Even if it were dead quiet, there would still be words to say, “Its so silent,” that buzz around in our heads.
I wonder, in the silence of space, could Sunita Willams have said to herself, “It’s so silent, here!”
It’s hard to really know, but as a species, we are the only ones who ask, “What is silence?” I don’t know what kind of phenomenon ‘silence’ would look like to an ant or to a tiger or to a butterfly. But my imagination is strained to the very outer limits when I listen for silence, beyond words.
Interestingly, when I try my hardest to shut off the most human part of me, which is to language my world to myself and articulate it – that’s when the babble gets loudest!
Silence
Stunningly, for me, beyond words, there is – nothing! Not silence, but NO-THING!
I think that's just one one of the many, many things in this universe that we, creation’s creatures, make up a story about – – something we have absolutely no idea of.
Zero, zilch. Silence is just another of those theoretical fantasies created by me, and maybe by you…It’s a myth – it’s not real!
In intellectual terms. maybe it’s simply No language = NOTHING. In experiential terms, I have the sense that I will never, ever, ever experience silence. It exists outside the little voice in my head.
No little voice in the head - No A,B,C. No Jack and Jill went up the hill. No laws of physics, no trees, nor babbling brooks, nor French fries and coke, nor hot pants or the Big O. No ‘ka-ching’ of a cash register. Just some amazingly different place.
And considering that there seems to be no way to shut off the little voices in my ‘mind’ (whatever that is!), I will never, ever, ever, ever know what this thing called silence really is.
Which is not a bad thing or a good thing. It’s interesting to actually know that I will never have the experience called silence in this living form, and that’s all!
And maybe, just maybe, the idea of silence was invented in human language and doesn’t exist at all. It’s just a useful invention for me!
But even if it is a human invention, what is it actually used for!
Access: PublicTagged with: silence, out-of-duh-box stuff
silence is …
listening.
Thank you for this! And for posting one of your lovely photos - which inspires a listening sensation in me.
Another thought: scientists are discovering that nerve pathways transmit impulses via sound waves, rather than electricity. So your idea that, in human form, we may never truly know silence … well, we’re living, functioning pieces of music, vibrating in the big cosmic symphony….!
We’re not made to be silent, though a harmonious pause now and then sure helps :)
I always enjoy your songs, Praveer.
Praveer:
Your wonderful musings and excellent explanation is nourishment for my soul. I wonder if one is born deaf, if there is silence, or if the inner workings of the mind create noise, since the person has not heard words or noises at all?
Although the chatter of ones mind does not allow silence in our lives, I find it most delicious to sit in a perfectly quiet space and just listen…to no-thing. To the soudns of nature perhaps…and when asking someone else to “listen” and they say “to what”? And one answers: exactly!
Bless you for your gift of words!
Aley
A beautiful photo of the man in the water. Sadly, silence is the one thing that is almost impossible to achieve. No matter where you go, or what you do … sound is always rearing up its head. This is a small note on silence from my book Buck Snort:
“A wagging tongue courts the Angel of Death—but silence—like a deer eluding the hunter, eludes even death's advance.”
Some heavy words for sure. But, Eliot, he was eighty-seven years old, and the Angel of Death, like the determined hunter, finally heard the faintest of sounds—somewhere between the chirping birds and the rustling leaves—and likewise dropped the hammer.
-bc-
Have a great, my friend.
I love the sound of my friends' voices. I think that's what silence was invented for - so that I could hear this sweet music! I'm not kidding!
And that's a tantalizing snippet of information, Laurie, “scientists are discovering that nerve pathways transmit impulses via sound waves, rather than electricity. ”If you can remember where you saw it, please let me know. And yes, humans as - living, functioning pieces of music, vibrating in the big cosmic symphony….! What a harmonious idea. I'm a bass trombone - how about you?
Aley, I just discovered a Starbucks recipe book on the net and picked …ummmm Simple One Cup Chai, had too much coffee today, you want some? You know, I worked with deaf adults for a while - and there is not a 'noisier' bunch of people on earth. I hated leaving them - the amount of 'talking' we did was non-stop, like a good Italian family! It looks like while they do not know English or Hindi or any other languages, they have an intellectual function that creates the kind of noise that you and I have when we talk to ourselves. I need to look at this more rigorously, and its a good opportunity to shake my fingers at a few old friends!
And BC, I'm glad you liked the photo, too, like Laurie. That's the Taj Mahal in the reflection of the sacred Ganga. The Taj is ice cold perfection in marble, with high ceilinged halls that shushes up sound. The marble is cut with such precision that not a speck of cement was needed to hold it together. Not only does it dominate noisy visitors, it silences any possible criticism of its design and execution. In the ensuing silence, what else can you hear but the profound grief of a Mughal emperor whose riches surpassed anything on the Earth of his times, but could not bring back his beloved Noor Jehan from her hunter, The Angel of Death. Interesting design to this silence.
I like the trenchant thought from Buck Snort - where is the book available?
Hi ho! My friend. I am shopping the book around at the moment, looking for the right deal. I will keep you updated.
With much love & peace out (as they say)
-bc-
Oh, I soooo enjoyed your description of the Taj - I’m there!
Here’s a link to the article that inspired my comment about nerve pathways + sound:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/nerve_communication
I think silence is the buzz that comes when all sounds are in harmony…like the buzzing of bees.
Perhaps, like love, silence is subtle, not an absence of something or presence of something else.
BC - I look forward to news of your book…
Laurie - Glad you like the Taj description - to tell the absolute truth, for me the Taj does nothing when seen by itself, but juxtapose it with it's surroundings and - wham!
The link to wired.com was great - I'll have a keen ear open for more. Many thanks.
Meenakshi - the buzzing of the bees - very soothing - but its still not silence! And that's the fun part for me - what lies beyond the buzz! It's a bit like the old Twilight Zone serial…. I can hear the music from serial coming up now…. :-)
“Sound is not pure sound: it is the rapid alternation of sound and silence…the crest and trough of a (sound) wave are inseparable. Sound and silence are at the same time one.”
from an Alan Watts lectureSilence is not the absence of sound anymore than the “emptiness” of Buddhism is the lack of a thing. Far from being a figment of our imagination, silence is a necessary contrast that allows us understand our experience completely.
Silence is the interval between notes that creates music having interest and emotion. It is the plain field of color that allows the subject of an image to stand out. Even the nose will create silence, growing dull to the pervasive scent of a rose, to be able to smell something new.
Sound is as essential to silence as silence is to sound. I seem to remember Robert Aitken Roshi writing, “If not for thought, how would you know that you are enlightened?”
Yes, Kiso - if not for sound, how would we know silence. And that is what I was speculating about. To be more precise - I as a human know 'silence' because there is a word called silence.
In other words, take away human beings and there is no-thing called silence because only humans have something called 'silence'.
For a stone on a the side of a roaring river what would 'silence' look like? You and I can only speculate from our human-being-ness, and from language.
It is not what you and I say.
Not what I feel.
Not what I imagine.
It is not not.
And that is what it is. Unknowable, simply because we are human.
And while I may never know the answer to the query, its the experience of the speculation, the exploration of the not not where I begin to redefine my own human-ness.
Watts has an incredibly fine passage in The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, where he takes you down this path, and abandons you, empowered to explore your human imagination!