Photo: alicepopkorn
Silence is vanishing. What does this mean for our mental and spiritual wellness?
Fewer than twelve places left in America where silence pervades. Nowhere in Europe.
Those are some pretty intense statistics. Before you say, “I can go out to my backyard and get some silence,” in a recent Newsweek article, audio ecologist Gordon Hempton defines silence as “the complete absence of all audible mechanical vibrations, leaving only the sounds of nature at her most natural.” And we’re talking about having this absence over many square miles here, people.
Hempton believes we are facing the very real possibility of “silence extinction.” And when you start to bring up all those open spaces in the US – like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada – remember planes. Or:
…The snowmobiles roaring through Yellowstone, helicopters flying over Hawaii volcanoes, and air tours over the Grand Canyon.
Yeah, not too many places you can get away from our transportation machines. But does it really matter if we are left with no silence?
The Noiseless Experience
Photo: Pardesi*
What’s the point of silence anyway? Often, we don’t even realize what silence means until we have a chance to feel it for a good while. There are some – I’d venture to say more than a few of the younger generation, in particular – who have never truly experienced more than a moment here or there of silence in their entire life.
To be in silence gives the chance simply to re-ground into the self. For me, wired to be a bit high-strung, silence provides “de-stringing” action that brings down those stress hormones, so damaging to our overall health. Very few people can truly unwind while surrounded with noise, even if it’s the everyday noises we’ve gotten used to – the cars zooming on the freeway near our house, the construction we pass everyday on the way to and from work, even the low buzz of street lamps outside our bedroom windows.
The power of silence is even found in areas we believe cannot be healed; as Hempton points out, “recent studies have shown that nature experience can be as effective as medication in the treatment of autism.”
This is the scary thing about losing silent places: our experience of travel will change. One thing I look forward to most about adventuring to a new place is finding a golden space of noiseless action; sure, there is always the rustling of animals, and nature sprouting, but nothing man-made. It just feels different to the body, instantly, to be in this type of space.
Or, as Hempton notes:
To be in a naturally silent place is as essential today as it was to our distant ancestors…we are given the opportunity not only to heal but discover something incredible—the presence of life, interwoven! When I listen to a naturally silent place and hear nature at its most natural, it is no longer merely sound; it is music. And like all music, good or bad, it affects us deeply.
How can we help? Rerouting aircrafts is the major answer that Hempton offers. Individually, we can refuse to participate in tours that fly over sacred, silent areas, such as national parks. Drive to designated areas in these parks, and then hike your way away from the noise. Surrender some of these spaces to the animals and creatures that inhabit the area.
And leave that iPod at home.
Do you think trying to maintain silent places is important? Share your thoughts below.
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Very interesting. I’m now trying to come up with a place I’ve been that was truly silent…and drawing a blank!
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“We should do everything to protect our silence, the good silence that you can only find in nature. It’s a beautiful silence that speaks to our soul; like the beauty of a forrest of trees, the twirling of leaves as they hit the ground in the fall and tiny animals rustling in the woods and birds singing back and forth to each other. This is the best therapy.”
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Great article! When travelling, I desire to have some silence. There’s only one place I’ve visited in the last several years where I was blessed to have true silence.
And no, I’m not telling….;-)
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Silence is indeed hard to find. I remember camping at a remote lake once, looking for solitude, only to have the wind rattle through the pine trees all night long, sounding like a train. Not exactly what I was looking for. And remote, rural villages without electricity? They still have roosters that start crowing at each other at 4am and don’t stop ’til the sun’s up. And then there’s the jays and mourning doves that sound quaint at first, but after the hundredth call, it becomes noise to me. Death Valley’s pretty quiet though. Maybe too quiet…
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One man’s ambient noise is another man’s screaming din. To a town-dweller, what you call ’silence’ (’rustling of animals, and nature sprouting’) is very far from restful. I was brought up in the Westcountry of England, but moved to London in my late teens, where I have lived ever since. In my London garden, I find birdsong far more jarring than low-level traffic noise: it’s *unexpected* noise that is disturbing, rather than anything else.
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Definitely nice to have some peace and quiet now and again…or most of the time.
I noticed that aircraft were conspicuous by their absence on my last two travels to Cuba and Nepal.
You can usually get away from it all even in the busy UK, as long as you’ve got the will to make it to the countryside.
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What an interesting read. I seek out silence everywhere I go. I live in the city, and for a number of years, lived in an apt facing a very busy road. I finally decided to move because the drone of cars driving, was literally, making me feel insane. There is nothing more beautiful than the sound of nature, or the lack of anything, either animal, nature, or man made machines. I am a strong believer in the necessity of silence. Experiencing silence, is part of bringing balance to your life.
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I believe that places where we can go to get away from all man made noise is extremely important to all parts of our health – mental , physical, psychological -
every fiber of our being. Any one who finds man made/machine noises more restful – well that just is all about education.
I do what I can every day to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining and protecting places where we can go to get away from man made noise.↵ -
Excellent post! I’m very sad to say out here in Okinawa where secluded and sacred places that give a sense of slipping back hundreds of years in time are still harshly interrupted by the constant air traffic of both runways.
But despite this, I do remember a startling sense of peace when I found myself on a mountain during a fresh snow fall. The way sound was muffled by the freshly falling snow was enchanting and I could have sworn I was listening to the sound of each snow flake joining the sea of white below….
Thank you for this! I hope I can find one of these places throughout my travels!↵
