In observing the present state of affairs and of life in general, from a Christian point of view one would have to say: It is a disease. And if I were a physician and someone asked me, “What do you think should be done?” I would answer, “Create silence, bring about silence.” God’s Word cannot be heard, and if in order to be heard in the hullabaloo it must be shouted deafeningly with noisy means, then it is not God’s Word; create silence!
And we humans, we clever fellows, seem to have become sleepless in order to invent every new means to increase noise, to spread noise and insignificance with the greatest possible ease and on the greatest possible scale. Yes, everything has been turned upside down. The means of communication have been perfected, but what is publicized with such hot haste is rubbish. Oh, create silence!--Soren Kierkegaard, “Silence and Solitude,” in Provocations, 372.
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3 comments:
This is quite true; thanks for posting it. Even in the moments when people try to give themselves rest from the day-to-day noise and chaos of life, they attempt to "unwind" with yet more noisy meaninglessness. As if acting on instinct, they run to the visual media. Additionally, though lacking in decibels, many books and magazines created for sheer entertainment could easily qualify as noise. To its own detriment, the hyperactive, thrill-addicted and noise-saturated society is also one that has tragically forgotten how to be still and silent.
SS:
Very astute observationss on typical American insanity.
It is shocking, but commonplace, to hear people say they need to "vegetate" (usually in front of the Great Lobotomizer: TV). Human beings saying they want to reduce themselves to the level of a cabbage or carrot. Amazing.
If one is really fatigued, what about:
1. Naps
2. Listening to music
3. Exercise
4. Conversation
5. Prayer
6. Biblical meditation?
Teach us to care and not to care,
Teach us to be still.
-TSE
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