FAVETE LINGUIS*

Some mornings I am up, dressed and drinking my first cup of coffee at 5.30; yes, such an hour does exist, and for me this is a most magical time, especially during spring, summer and autumn. Why? Because of what I hear – or more exactly what I do NOT hear. This is what I call “my time” as few, if any, others are around and I can use the first hour to contemplate ‘everything’. At that time I can hear the Earth ‘breathing’ and there is nothing to distract me from real listening. I do not have to go anywhere to find such peace and I am sure each of us can find that deep place of silence in our house, garden and even in the bath!

At such a time, I can find my path in a clearer light; what may have been elusive or deceptive becomes crystal clear. It sets me up for whatever I shall do for the rest of the day. All of us, for probably 95% of each day, are surrounded by a cacophony of noise – some good, some bad, some absolutely ugly – but it’s there like our shadow in the sun, following us wherever we go. Have we lost the sense of valuing silence? Probably yes, as for many, silence is oppressive, a bearing down upon us of emptiness. Naturally, I wholly disagree with this viewpoint as I believe the brain needs time to process images and sounds so that we can place them in their proper context. The English diarist, Samuel Johnson, was one who suggested silence as being oppressive: “silence grows itself and the longer talk is suspended, the more difficult it becomes to find anything to say”. Well, it’s a view. Personally I find myself more in agreement with Abraham Lincoln in that “it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt”.

We all need time to think and in the majority of instances deep thinking and the effort that requires can best be done within a framework of deep peace and silence.

Until next time (and in peace and quiet),

Peripatetic Scribe

* “Favour me with silence”

Horace