Everything arises out of silence

I often consider the tumult of this world—both the outer and inner turmoil that seems to pervade the lives of many people. However, nearly everything ‘outside’ this one small planet is silence. The primary function of the Universe is silence. We are the rarity; I think it’s not so much that life is rare, but perhaps the more significant rarity is the situation of a whole system in which sound is generated and received. We have a place where those vibrations can emerge and we can be a witness.

I think the situation of our encountering one another (both the ordinary and in crisis) offers the opportunity to generate a space of silence. Unlike sight, for instance, where we can close our eyes, there is no ready muting of sound; silence is something we have to create or protect. So I think there is some kind of spiritual significance to making that space (in that silence is the norm for everything outside this environment we are in; it’s as if we are given a special opportunity where we must actively return to silence). That becomes more difficult—and more necessary—as we make the world a giant mechanism of noise. We evolved in quiet spaces and formed ourselves and social interaction in that space. There is so much talk of our inability to communicate properly now. We have not lost the ability to communicate, we have lost the ability to be quiet. 

When we are really present; people sense both the respect we have for the individual and, I think, the respect for the sacred space of silence. When we speak we begin to codify and form and then ‘everything arises’. That’s necessary as well; but the arising can’t come without a space of silence to begin (and then perhaps everything returns to silence in the end). Perhaps ‘Everything that has Arisen’ was created simply to witness and eventually comprehend the Silence that was before and to follow. I wonder often about all that’s been written about God and, though it’s maybe a necessary effort, it’s not the end of understanding (this is why I am so wary now of any faith that professes ‘the Answers’). The understanding of God and the silence—or God in The Silence—is something arising and, I think, will continue to emerge till it all folds back into silence.

That, maybe, is what people sense when we sit with them quietly. That’s why just being present is so dearly important and healing. It’s not that people so much need an abundance of words and sound; they need to find a passage back into silence. It’s a situation equally helpless and empowered; that sharing that vulnerability and strength with someone in an honest way is the most healing thing one could do. There is an opportunity for emancipation. There is the ability to take up strengths that haven’t emerged before. 

Some years ago, I had an extraordinarily painful surgery which rearranged my entire ribcage…all at once. I remember, during my time in the hospital and recovery, though I was the one in pain, I became the pivot point of reassurance and support for those concerned for me. It activated an understanding of the place of pain and comfort in me—and I was the one in that situation who could become a conduit for others. I certainly had the support of my parents and carers in the hospital but I had to actively engage with the whole thing to make the cycle complete. I have heard many times before people wishing they could ‘take on the pain’ for people living through it; they can’t (and I wonder if that somehow diminishes the experience of the person in pain). How does one face pain with people in the midst of it and, equally so, how do you work through that pain in what is voiced and what remains in silence?

The martyrdom of silence

There is much discussion about the need for better clarity and connection in 'The World'. I'm sure that whatever future we have together will require more understanding and cohesion; however, I wonder, again, if we so much lack the ability to communicate or we have simply lost the capacity to be silent. On the news last night, after the arrests of several suspected terrorists in Belgium, an imam in the town they were from said, "I think, unfortunately, much of the radicalisation is taking place online now; it's certainly not happening here in the mosque." The problem may not be that people are isolated it's that they are too filled with an infected language—and the spirit can only bear so much filling before it overflows into violence. 

We've evolved in sparse small quiet groups. Now we are overwhelmed with sound. I've noted that some of the most socially desperate places I've been are also the most noisy—that the actual physical environment tends toward an unrelenting wash of sound (hard surfaces, crowded living and working spaces, etc.). This is not insignificant; I think it's actually a substantive issue. If you live in a place where, even to be heard, you have to constantly shout and strain your voice, this will form your perspective on how you interact with others. It will have some bearing on every kind of social interaction. Also those who are quiet won't be heard; it's only the loudest voices that can speak over the din. This is, metaphorically and physically, where much of the ideology of violence springs from—obviously not all; that's too much of a generalisation. However, I'm extending my generalisation into the online connections that seem to feed this phenomenon of radicalisation. People are caught up in little hard rooms with too much reverberation and it's driving them mad.

I wonder if these self-styled 'martyrs' are, instead of glory and acclaim through their own death and the death of others, deep down only trying to find a place of silence? That they, in their physical and spiritual lives, are so overwhelmed with the noise that they are driven to silence it all and would, ultimately, silence everyone. We continually hear from the families of 'good boys' who have 'suddenly and without warning' killed dozens of people that 'we never saw it coming; he was such a quiet young man.' Well, yes, he might have been a quiet young man beaten down with the noise of his school, his city, his broken society and then by the screaming preachers of hate he found online. If he was boisterous and outgoing, he might of found some outlet to vent his frustrations; he may have thought he could find work or interact with people different from himself (there is another discussion here about the loss of traditional shepherds and rights of passage for young men). But if one is in a world with no silence and no retreat, then that is going to break people eventually. Unfortunately, that brokenness, for some, leads to what we see in the evening news. That gets amplified, from news to reaction, reaction to further violence, violence to the sounds of war. 

Some thoughts on the effect of noise and what bearing it may have on the psychology of violence. See text at http://www.edgeofsomewhere.com/weblog/2015/1/18/the-martyrdom-of-silence

The Constant

I've just yesterday flown back to Sydney from a holiday in the States; as I left the country, the story of the attacks in Paris were unfolding and unfinished. Every news channel in the hotel displayed a barrage of information—'experts' spoke of the social situation in France, issues over immigration and inculturation, economic pressures among migrants, dissatisfaction over political reforms, involvement of the French military in North Africa, the 'War on Terror', various riots in The Republic over the past years, the history of Colonial power, religions intolerance, religious tolerance, freedom of expression, temperance of that expression, a new device that can hold any smart phone in your car's air vent, the upcoming Super Bowl, how the French government should respond, what mistakes were made by French Intelligence, the inevitable surveillance state, and so on. 

Then, I flew for fourteen hours from Los Angeles to Sydney and all that fell silent. Most international flights are, for now, still free of any internet or broadcast news incursion. You've only your own reflections on current events to mull over (my 'entertainment display' was non-functional so I also did not have the selection of films to peruse either). 

All these diverse and discordant voices—everyone has some opinion. Some are willing to voice them; some turn to violent action. How can I comprehend the situation of someone whose life is so different—who has a whole set of values and beliefs that are either many degrees separated or outright antithetical to mine? It takes significant dialogue (and, of course, a willingness to engage in that for both parties). But what, in the human experience of our engagement with one another, is the constant? All discussions and interactions involve variables; some of the elements can be reconciled but the equations seem to be too dynamic in the moments of conflict and confusion. What is the static constant that we all share no matter our culture, history or faith? It's silence; we are forgetting how to respect the silence of our togetherness and risk losing the only thing that we can always hold in common.  

I know that the news is necessary; but I wish, for a given event, there could be an embargo for some time—that the first response, in the face of tragedy, would be silence and time to reflect. The immediate impulse to find blame, identify the early childhood traumas of the perpetrators, or trace the path of money and weapons is not, primarily, the issue at hand. These events all spring from our inability to hold a balanced space together; there is a rupture in society that tears right down through individuals because they can't find a way to hold life on common terms. 

We recognise, after the fact, the necessity of silence; in memorials, in the streets, in Parliaments, there is 'a moment of silence' held by all, no matter what their political bent or religion. We need to find a way to hold silence together beforehand; we need to find these ruptured men and women in their time of injured vulnerability and learn to be silent together; to hold the quiet that leads to a discussion. What they are receiving, instead, is that onslaught of noise and rage from every quarter that drives them into further despair. If every space of mind and spirit is filled with the clamour of so many competing ideologies, there will be no room left for the common silence. What remains for the catalyst of peace? We'll face a future of desperate commentators trying to unquietly uncover why?