Capacity

 We have a natural capacity for listening to “silence,” just as we have a natural capacity for breathing.  One does not have to learn to breathe in normal healthy life.  So why do so many people say they cannot stand silence?  I suspect that they don’t practice it and so become spiritually unhealthy.  Listening to the silence is the breathing part of the spiritual journey.  At some point, usually when very young, people learn to fill up their lives with sounds of noise.  It is TV, cell phone, computer, ear buds, and so forth.  It is not that these are all bad in themselves, but rather that they become “too much” and the silence becomes no more.  I try to practice being in silence when there is silence all around me, such as early in the morning, or when no one is around.  This helps me to recover an inner silence when I am in the daily life of noise, and sounds that are simply a part of the day, as in work, travel, and such.  You tap a new-born on the butt and it makes noise.  It is practicing breathing.  But then notice that the baby spends most of its time in silence, only making noise when it wants something essential, such as food or clean diaper.  It does not like noise.