Silence….quietness: the absence or lack of noise

Quiet….undisturbed: free from trouble or disturbance

Whatever your definition is of silence or quiet, it has rewards that are often ignored in this very noisy world we live in.

It seems to me that most humans are noisy creatures.  That is not a slam, as we are social animals and social animals need to communicate.   Some of us are quieter than others but we all need to speak to members of our species.  We humans have also created a very noisy world.  Cars, trains, planes, radios, televisions, computers, telephones that ring, cell phones with many, many obnoxious sounds, music,  sports.  We even read our books by listening to them on audio.

I have always had a problem sitting silently in a room.  I tried to meditate.  No dice.  My mind never stops racing and if that is the case, what’s the point of silence.  The racket inside my head has always been deafening.  Then I went to nature for silence.

Man’s world makes noise, the natural world has sounds.  Nature has many sounds.  The wind in the leaves.  The cardinal singing or the crow crowing.  Sounds without noise.  The Chorus frogs in spring. When I began to listen to nature, I discovered silence.  I use the sounds of nature to lull me into discovering those quiet moments that occur between my thoughts.  We all have those moments even if you are like me and your mind moves at 200mph.   Music would be unrecognizable if it was one never-ending note.   You hear it as music because of those silent moments in between the notes.  Silence is where the art and beauty of life originates.  If our busy minds arrange and rearrange our art, it is the silent interludes that make it understandable.

I believe that going to nature and discovering the silence makes us better nature photographers.  If all we ever do is think, think, think, about exposure, composition, etc. we miss the message that nature provides in between the sounds.  It’s in the silence.  Discovering the truth about nature through the silence allows us to better understand our subjects.  We are better able to see our natural connection to nature.  We will then see the connection to the source of nature.  A personal, quiet relationship with nature leads us to a personal relationship with the creator of nature and man.  All because of silence.

Those moments of quiet between our thoughts and the peace that comes with them have certainly been a part of my salvation.  It has delivered me from the darkest of times and guided me into the light.  That is a fact.

I’ll never be the kind of person that can meditate whenever I have a few free moments. I have however discovered that through the noiseless sounds of nature I can reclaim my heritage with both nature and God.  This will work for anyone.  Don’t get caught up in the terminology that I use.  You will see.

Listen to the silence