Stimulus pieces:
- Conversation 7 of Glimpsing God by John Edward Southall
- News by Emily Dickinson
- The singularity of shells by Luci Shaw
The contributions began with the observation that hearing is different to listening. There is often noise in the background of our days, whether traffic, in the supermarket, several people speaking at the same time, etc. We observed that for some of us ‘all the world is a noise’ which can leave us feeling swamped and feeling we either need to avoid the cause of the noise or shut it out. We thought that ‘information/news’ whether read (noise in our heads) or heard in bulletins (external noise) can overwhelm and cause a kind of paralysis of reaction, which can lead to guilt.
From the resource material – we noticed that the 2 ladies in conversation were concentrating on one another, listening both to the spoken words, and the words ‘behind the words’? The poem by Luci Shaw sparked the sharing of an experience of going to a familiar place with a rockpool and waves, and how the absence of expected sounds in that environment was a little dislocating and felt ‘strange’. We noted that the piece by John Edward Southall contained the phrase ‘shut my eyes to every sound’, and we spoke about how the senses work together to interpret the world, or how if one sense is lacking, the others seem to be intensified.
We reflected on the difference between ‘stillness’ and ‘silence’ and how silence may need to precede stillness. One person shared about a particular environment, where background sounds seemed to be ‘absorbed’ into a bigger silence, even though the sounds themselves were still present, which had led them into stillness, and a kind of altering of perspective.
There was an observation about how people do need conversation in their day to connect to others; however stillness can be achieved through a harmonious sound, such as people singing together; and this led to an appreciation of the TC space where the communication feels peaceful, companiable, and restorative.
One person shared the 11th step of humility: speak ‘gently and without laughter, humbly and seriously, in few and sensible words.’ And from Barbara Brown Taylor: ‘Some of the most effective language of the world … leads us into silence…When we run out of words, then and perhaps only then, can God be God.’
Deborah
Ed Many thanks, Deborah, for summarising this conversation.