Quietude

I have nothing to say and I am saying it.

I am here , and there is nothing to say . If among you are those who wish to get somewhere , let them leave at any moment . What we re–quire is silence ; but what silence requires is that I go on talking . Give any one thought a push : it falls down easily [^1]

 
 
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On my walk walk with the puppy I noticed that I could get almost completely quiet. There was always some background noise, the stones under my feet, Zivon rustling the grass, the sounds of the slight breeze, and the those quieted, there was the voice in my head talking to me. It was saying "Boy, I'm really getting quiet now. I don't hear the stones any more, wait is that the sound of a truck in the distance? This is really quiet now. Am I quiet enough? I sure don't like the things that interrupt the quiet. It sure is nice when I get quiet. Don't I wish I could all the time, at a moments notice get this quiet. Maybe if I took drugs you could get even quieter..." And on and on and on with no stop.

  • "It’s just in front of your nose." We can create it anytime with focus and introspection. It isn't always about decibels. "The potential wealth of being an island for yourself is something you carry around with you all the time." [^2]

I can watch my thoughts come and go out of nowhere and back into nowhere. Even all the persistent mind chatter about past and current troubles. I give my thoughts a push and they naturally fall away. Where was that thought that just now occurred to me, last month, where will it be next month?

[^1]: John Cage (1961): Silence: lectures and writings
[^2]: Kagge, Erling (2016): Silence in the age of noise