NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu said yesterday, “Not answering an email in 10 minutes used to mean you’re dead, but now 10 seconds is enough. After 10 minutes, they’ve already filed away your obituary.”
We’ve come to the nanosecond availability of smart phones and social media. Where, then, is the silence?
We can find this silence in meditation. First, just by sitting still or walking slowly. Next, by monitoring the inner noise of our minds.
The goal of mindfulness meditation is not silence–silence is the vehicle. Each time we come back from the future, past, or commentary about now we taste a little silence.
We find this silence in the transition from fantasy to what is actually happening now. The feel of breathing, the sensations in the body.
It might be refreshing to spend more time in reality than the incessant fantasies of future and past where we spend most of our time.
We might find when we pay attention to the reality of now that we are more contained; less likely to act on every impulse, inflame emotions, and get ourselves into trouble.
We will also find that we are more engaged with the world in all its technicolor brilliance. Every moment is a multimedia show.
This is the wisdom of silence-containment-engagement and the benefit of mindfulness practice.
Once we post our Facebook status its already in the past. Instead of providing running commentary for our lives we can pay attention to what is actually happening.
Enjoy your silence today, even if it is a brief sip. Tomorrow take a longer one. Then perhaps an even longer one the day after. Make silence a frequent companion.
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