Silence, an inner condition.
Thoughts racing marathons in some wet curl of my brain
tissue, a spark of a synapse perhaps the only way to make tangible the inner fiery
cacophony. How the blaze continues on without getting quenched by the liquids
that are the conveyors of life! The antithesis of silence or peace: the unquiet mind with sheer force and
terrorist tactics wars on, raging some old battle already won or lost. But
surely obsolete and impractical in the invitation to be present in this very
singular and specific instant.
Silence, an outer condition.
Sitting atop the old inn’s ruins, desert viewscape, bare
toes on hard dusty earth, dog running circles – glee in being free. All of a
sudden like a wall of stony reality: silence
hits. Almost brutal in its force, almost a stranger again after thousands of
silenceless moments. Glorious, desperately-needed silence. Breeze comes, before
unnoticed but now, though pleasantly cooling, becomes a shocking auditory jolt
in the landscape of no noise. It retreats back into the silence and the
questions about eons of blaring: rotors, motors, alarms and yells recede into
the blessed nothing of the Life-giving Silence.
Stillness. Silence. Solitude.
Stillness reminds me that silence will come. Silence enfolds
me tenderly. Solitude, a single speck that is a gift in a lifetime of
undeniable interwovenness. Like the spider webs spanning unseen the empty
spaces, so too stillness and silence and solitude repair me to that
interconnection with all. A moment to breathe. A moment to gather. A moment to
be.
Silence is oh so underrated. Oh so underestimated. It is
cheapened and devalued, made to seem unworthy, made to seem less than music, chatter, the need for a
neatly manicured lawn or overhead surveillance. I will forego the grass
clipping altogether; forsake Beethoven, momentarily; forge ahead sans trite
chitchat; and opt out of helicopter enforcement of law and citizen safety. I
will still the thoughts, no matter their screams for attention.
I will choose silence again and again.
All blog photographs taken by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted.
