I’ve been reading One Square Inch of Silence, by Gordon Hempton, founder/creator of just such an inch in the Hoh Rain Forest, part of Olympic National Forest. As a Sound Tracker Hempton monitors man made and natural sounds around the globe, but this one square inch of silence is his special project. Marked off in one of the more quiet locations in the United States, he returns periodically to monitor how the silence is doing there and finds that more and more noise, mainly in the form of aircraft sound, is creeping in.
This has me thinking about the noise here in the cottage. As usually it is pretty quiet here, and I certainly feel stillness and calm. But wait, what do I hear? Oh dear, the tapping of my computer keys. And then there is the steady hum of the heat, and just now I heard the furnace go on again. When I make my lunch I’ll hear the microwave heating up my soup.
On my walk today I listened for noises. Oh, a few crows, but mainly I heard cars and big machines that were cutting down trees, removing snow, and sawing boards for a new house. It occurred to me that the downside of being conscious, is that I am conscious. Next time I walk I’m going unconscious. I’m not going to let all those noises spoil my silence
This has me thinking about the noise here in the cottage. As usually it is pretty quiet here, and I certainly feel stillness and calm. But wait, what do I hear? Oh dear, the tapping of my computer keys. And then there is the steady hum of the heat, and just now I heard the furnace go on again. When I make my lunch I’ll hear the microwave heating up my soup.
On my walk today I listened for noises. Oh, a few crows, but mainly I heard cars and big machines that were cutting down trees, removing snow, and sawing boards for a new house. It occurred to me that the downside of being conscious, is that I am conscious. Next time I walk I’m going unconscious. I’m not going to let all those noises spoil my silence