Quietude Worth a Million
Silence is rarely experienced and for many of us, total silence, free of human sounds has never been experienced.
Those fortunate to have known the tonic quietude of early hours before dawn have experienced the unusually peaceful atmosphere and appreciate its value. Those who have experienced the same but in the desert wilderness with clear skies will have seen the miraculous starry display that adds an additional and indescribable element of beauty.
Peace and beauty are the soul’s nourishment and provide humans with a panacea for the soul.
But when we examine our lifestyle in the commercial, industrialized world we are faced with the realization that what our soul needs and seeks is not easily available. We are being deprived of the very elements that allow our pains to be healed, our brain and nervous system to be restored and to be inspired by our own inner purpose and reason for living.
Not only is the activity associated with industry, traffic, radio and increasing electronic sounds tolerated but the habits and social appetites clamour for more and more noise, more and more, and louder and louder. The present so-called entertainments are focussed upon making noise with greater and greater amplification assisted by electronic artificiality – an unconscious demonstration of the soul poverty that we have yet to admit.
But noise is intrusive. That young people in the main choose noise to their detriment is their own responsibility. That mature people encourage it or even participate is irresponsible.
No one who values quietude and peace is exempt from the likelihood that they will find no agency on their side to allow them their rights in this regard. We cannot rely upon legislation to protect us. Efforts towards controlling noise pollution are impotent.
So if we must adjust to the fact that wherever we go in cities and even suburbs, whether in supermarkets, restaurants, or business houses we will be likely to suffer bombardment of sounds not of our choosing, we can only retreat into an inner quietude as our defence.
To have peace, beauty and silence restored and valued in society is the wish of all who like to feel free to think and experience life in the gentler way than the present state of enslavement to trends of noise, ugliness and discord. It would be worth a million dollars.
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