# Chapter 264

“The object in meditation and all of our contemplative disciplines is silence… in order for you to perceive something other than yourself“ - David Whyte

I love love this quote!! There is not hardly any silence in the world anywhere anymore! It is the particular pollution of the 21st century - the world is a very very noisy place. As a testament to that fact, that I own and use packs of foam ear plugs should be no surprise. Nor the fact that I own several different noise-canceling ear buds as well as a noise-canceling ear cans. How can one person use that many different forms of hearing protection? Trust me, it is easy. But this is not the same as silence, although it helps the one side of silence.

Silence has two sides at least, the physical absence or muting of sound, and quietness or the absence of intrusion mentally or physically. Both are practically nonexistent in the modern world. In the old days, monks would go live in monasteries in search of both sides of silence. Consequently monasteries were almost remotely located far from population centers and people in general. Even hundreds and thousands of years ago, you had to get away from people in hope of finding some silence.

Now in the time of smartphones and unbelievable communication possibilities, silence is so elusive as to be never found. Even when I rode my bicycle all the way across the USA in 2016, did I rarely find any silence. And the long (and not yet long enough!) conversation about silence has led us to ignore the real gem here, perceiving something other than ourselves. God, the great I AM, the galaxy, the universe, eternity, love, hope, possibilities, thinking, joy . . . and the list of potential “somethings other than ourselves” is endless. Silence is the main highway for getting there.