Nature’s Coming
I was visiting with a friend the other day and we were talking about music and listening, the type of listening you have to do to really hear a symphony or a concerto, and he made an interesting observation. He thought a great many people simply listened to music just to drown out the silence, because they were afraid of the silence.
I think he might be right. We seem to be at war with silence and the quiet of our own minds. Stimulation is the order of the day. People turn on the television first thing in the morning. I look at my phone first thing in the morning. The road outside my gate hums with traffic. There’s news, music and weather when I pump my gas. We talk on the phone, we watch the phone, we carry it with us 24/7. There’s music, radio, and podcasts in our cars. There seems to be fewer and fewer moments when our brain isn’t being tingled with news, information, and tunes.
What’s the point of all this noise? I wish I knew. Mostly it’s to sell us stuff. Of course, it also keeps us in touch with loved ones, and it tells us about bad weather. So, that’s good. But all of the noise is human noise, the noise of neighbors, and business, and industry, and it’s so constant that how does nature and art compete? Barely. And when does our brain get a break? Almost never. And what’s in the silence that’s so unappealing? Nature? Ourselves? Maybe what terrifies us is that when we realize we’re part of nature, it’s hard to miss the point that nature’s coming for us. So, we break out the jams and run.