Silence and Stillness

We idealise busyness to the point where it has become a modern god that we worship. But what about stillness and silience? To be busy means we are successful. We use busyness to give our lives meaning and purpose. It is a badge of honour that we wear with pride declaring to the world that we are good enough to be busy.  But, it has become like a parasite, sucking us dry and leaving us as hollow and empty human shells just waiting to be filled by the next activity. Busyness has become one of our core values without us even realising it. 

But what if zero was the birth place of everything?

The Pursuit of Silence

From the 1800s onwards many artists became fascinated with silence. The fascination with silence actually runs parallel with the industrial revolution which stretched from approximately 1760 to 1840. During and after this time the world became loud. And sadly noise has been steadily increasing ever since. Mobile phones, alarms, iPods, stereos, cars, lawn mowers, T.Vs and children’s toys are just some of the items from an inexhaustible list of noise producing gadgets. If you walk into a café the aural landscape is so complex that the only way we deal with it is to try to block it out of our field of awareness. The milk frothier, various kitchen alarms, phone notifications, coffee grinder, people, background music, heating, cooling, and traffic are all found in this tiny place.

Consequently, silence has become something that has to be deliberately persuied.

Artist’s Thoughts

Melville wrote that

All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence… Silence is the general consecration of the universe. Silence is the invisible laying on of the Divine Pontiff’s hands upon the world. Silence is at once the most harmless and the most awful thing in all nature. It speaks of the reserved forces of fate. Silence is the only Voice of our God.

Debussy who was born when Melville was middle aged also had profound insights about silence. Debussy believed that “music was the silence between the notes.”

John Cage stretched our understanding of silence to its limits eventually concluding that silence doesn’t exist. He discovered that even if you are placed in a room who’s sole purpose is to be completely silent you will not find silence. Instead you will hear the ringing of your own nervous system and all the varying vibrations of your body. Cage reflected this disturbing discovery in his composition 4’33 which invites the audience to listen to ‘silent’ musicians. It is only through such intense listening that you become aware of the illusion of silence.

Music however, still continues to be birthed out of philosophical silence.

Noise and Busyness

The noise of the industrial revolution can perhaps be seen as today’s equivalent to busyness. Noise and busyness actually have a lot in common. Our busy lives have perhaps come to reflect our noisy environments. Today, we frequently become human doings, forgetting that we are infact human beings.

Silence and Stillness

What if the next great artistic musings of our time will be about stillness. I believe that stillness and silence have a lot in common. The parallels that run between them are so strong its like they are identical twins. Silence does not exist because it is something that has to be experienced by a living human being. As soon as you place a human being in an environment the life of their bodies creates sound. Total and complete silence is death, which cannot be heard.

Likewise, stillness is an experience but total and complete stillness is death. Breathing and a heart beat both contain movement and sound.

Maybe true creativity is birthed out of a place of ‘philosophical’ stillness and silence. [Realising that literal or absolute stillness and silence is not possible.]