Wednesday, November 22, 2006

on silence

I stole this from an article referenced on the neepeople web-log, but I thought it was interesting and moving, or whatever words those annoying sorts of people use when they run into something involving monks.
She believes that one of the reasons fewer women choose to enrol is a growing inability to sustain an "inner life". "We have been robbed of our inner resources; elevator music is all around," she says. "All the silences are covered. These days it is considered cruel to have a quiet classroom for children."

Is there too much instant gratification? She nods vigorously. She says that the women who came to the monastery but did not stay, did not "know what to do sitting in a room by themselves".
This was written 4 years ago, and I think it has gotten even worse today, with portable mp3 players and such being the order of the day. Contrast this with a couple generations ago, when the ability to have music which wasn't live was a bit of a novelty, three when it was a luxury, and four when it was an impossibility.

Yesterday was, by the way, No Music Day, making today, "Plenty of Music Day" or, better, St Cecilia's, the patron saint of music. I, of course, failed, since I watched an intensely musical movie. The main characters are followed around by unexplained Gypsy horn players as they party with an urgency and earnestness sadly lacking 'round the typical college keg. But I digress: many of the comments on the "No Music Day" site reinforced the point made by the nuns. They said, essentially, "This is a stupid idea, music is beautiful and I can't imagine living a day without it and not going insane." It's an argument I've heard made by many in person, as well. Make no mistake, I listen to a fair amount of music and don't impugn them for doing so, but there's something pathological about being unable to unplug for even a single day when for so much of human history we didn't even have a thing to unplug. We moderns are unable to engage in even the most basic of fasts. We can't bear to be left to confront ourselves for a day and I'm no exception.

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