Silence is an endangered commodity in the modern world. And we may be the worse off for it. Where has all the silence gone?
Do you remember when cell phones first started appearing? I recall feeling sorry for this busy professional in the early ‘80s answer a phone in a grocery store because of their electronic leash. I did not realize I was looking at myself and everyone else that I know. Now we have text messaging and wireless email access, with 1000s of minutes and people talking on the phone constantly.
I remember the time before Ipods, a time even before Walkmans. Remember that time? Sure there were portable radios, but nothing like what we have today. Anyone ride a subway in the past few years? Everyone is tuned in, with noise continuously pouring through little white earbuds.
I remember when there where 7 VHF TV channels and a few on UHF that no one ever really watched. Now we have hundreds of channels and no time to watch any of it.
I remember the time before the Internet, and before computers. This was a time without email or instant messages or message boards or blogs. When someone wanted to get a hold of you, they had to call (and there weren’t answering machines either) or write you a letter, or come over to see you.
All of the technology over the past 25 years has had a dramatic impact on our lives and culture. A lot of it has been very good. Some of it has not. Perhaps the greatest damage has been to silence.
In the silence we could ponder the world and our place in it. We did not need to constantly react. We could reflect, at least a little, and then act. We could attend to God. God is found in the whispering wind and the silence of our hearts. If we do not allow silence, we cannot hear Him.
It is a symptom of our society that we shut out the silence. We do not want to hear what is in that silence. It is calling us, but we drown the silence with our activity, with our noise. We fear that it is calling us to change; to repent. But we don’t want to. So we plug in, and turn up the volume. We keep moving, and talking, and reacting; never just being and listening.
Take time today to create some silence. And listen.
