I read this today in an article entitled "Silent Spaces" sent out by the A Slice of Infinity newsletter team. The newsletter is a daily faith booster/thought provoker, but today I felt like it spoke not only to my love of God, but to my love of haiku.
"Most people assume that silence is the absence of noise, but it is not. Hempton continues, 'For true silence is not noiselessness... silence is the complete absence of all audible mechanical vibrations, leaving only the sounds of nature at her most natural. Silence is the presence of everything, undisturbed.'(2) I remember one of these silent places Hempton describes. High in the North Cascade Mountains, my brother and I heard no other human noise, no bird or animal noises, only the trickling of a nearby brook and the gentle wind as it danced around us.
Being able to hear the sounds of nature is an unexpected and often rare gift in a world bombarded by artificial noise. Of course, it is often the case that I use noise as a distraction from truly listening. I often drown out the silence by my own busyness, filling my day with constant movement and activity, so that I rarely take the time to pay attention, and to tune my ears not only to the sound around me, but also to the stirrings of my own heart and mind. In all honesty, sometimes I am afraid of what I might hear if I do truly listen."
As of late, I have been too quick to turn on the TV, the radio, etc. I rarely sit and listen or think, or dream. Not only does this prevent me from hearing God's voice, but it prevents me from writing. How can I write about a moment I never savor or truly experience? Why must there always be noise in my life? I think it's definitely time to tune in to the "stirrings of my own heart and mind" and turn off the distractions.
