What is True Silence?

When I was a young boy, twice a year, I’d help my uncle remove or install old wooden, green screens from my grandmother’s windows. When the screens came down, they were replaced by heavy storm windows, secured with lead hooks at the top and thumb-turn locks on the inside. During the summer months, mosquitoes would inevitably find their way into the house. At night, I could hear them buzzing as they circled my bedroom. Why did they think our ears made such a good landing spot? The reality of those times was that the house wasn’t filled with electronic devices, lights, and monitors constantly humming in the background. Back then, when something was turned off, it was truly off. Today, silence requires effort. True silence feels almost unattainable unless you unplug everything entirely.

“True silence is a source of great strength.”

Lao Tzu

The Challenge of Modern Silence

Today, true silence is an exercise in patience, presence, and mindfulness. We have to work to hear the voice of silence. Even the mental clutter we carry around can grow deafening, often becoming loud when we try to disconnect from a world that insists on overloading us with information we don’t need. But what about the voice of snow falling on snow? The gurgle of ocean waves rolling gently over the moist sand on a warm summer morning? The rhythmic tapping of a woodpecker on a hollowed tree in search of its next meal? Or the faint ticking of a mechanical clock, whispering each second to us, the creaking of a wooden rocking chair reminding us of the energy and history it holds? The soft summer breeze that approaches from a distance, brushing past us as it continues on its way?

“Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows.”

Native American Proverb

These are the voices of true silence. They speak in their language, filled with wisdom and clarity. Yet, the relentless noise of modern life drowns then out—the mental chatter, digital distractions, and the hum of technology that deprives us of what silence is trying to share.

Silence as a Teacher

Silence is a wise teacher. Just as the ocean waves are calming yet persistent, and a woodpecker’s tapping requires patience and purpose, true silence offers lessons in presence, intention, and focus.

When we turn to these natural and nostalgic sounds, they help quiet the inner chaos and allow us to hear the wisdom of silence. The gurgle of the ocean, the stillness of falling snow, and even the creak of a rocking chair hold messages if we’re willing to listen.

Finding Meaning in the Noise

I can’t fight the world’s constant mental noise but I can use it to guide myself back to the natural sounds surrounding me. Ocean waves will always return to the shore, just as my thoughts will always flow. Snow falling on snow reminds me of the layers of stillness that soften the edges of inner noise. And that creaking rocking chair? It carries the history and energy to keep me grounded in the moment.

“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.”

Herman Hesse

Silence isn’t the absence of noise—it’s a presence. It brings clarity to the kind of voice we want to hear. True silence allows us to sift through the mental clutter and focus on the music of life—the ideas, moments, and truths that matter. It’s like a filter, straining out distractions and leaving behind only what’s meaningful.

Thriving Amidst the Noise

Journaling, writing, and creating give me my best chance to reconnect with the true voice of silence. They help me hear the wisdom within the noise and find balance between the constant hum of the world and the stillness I crave.

“In the attitude of silence, the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves into crystal clearness.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Why not accept both the noise and the quiet as reminders that we can’t escape the world’s sounds, but we can learn to hear their wisdom amidst the silence? As the ocean’s gurgle shapes the shoreline with each wave, so too does the voice of silence shape us, carving out space for clarity, purpose, and connection.

Talk soon…

G