Silence is our meeting place…
Whilst researching for up to date studies to back the science behind the importance of silence for our wellbeing; I came across this post on Silent Spaces website. Silent spaces detail a number of studies that have been completed around silence and the varying spaces that this is completed in. I will be sharing some of their studies and findings over this year.
As many of you know, Quiet Spaces International is a charity that we support. We absolutely love their work and I was also given the privilege of speaking with Gordan himself and given access to use some of his never before published recordings.
So when I came across this post - with their permission - I just had to share it with you.
Written by Silent Spaces and can be found on their website.
MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, WE NEED TO FALL BACK IN LOVE WITH THE LAND.
SILENCE IS OUR MEETING PLACE’
Gordon Hempton is an acoustic ecologist and Emmy Award winning sound recordist. He has ‘circled the globe three times over the last 35 years in pursuit of Earth’s rarest nature sounds’. Gordon believes that preserving natural silence is as necessary as species preservation.
Fortunately, he considers rescuing silence to be less difficult than many of the other challenges we face. But first we have to recognise its value.
Through short extracts from one of his books, One Square Inch of Silence – One man’s quest to preserve quiet, Gordon explains why it’s time we began to take notice:
‘More than ever before, we need to fall back in love with the land. Silence is our meeting place.’
‘It is our birthright to listen, quietly and undisturbed, to the natural environment and take whatever meanings we may. Long before the noises of mankind, there were only the sounds of the natural world. Our ears evolved perfectly tuned to hear these sounds – sounds that far exceed the range of human speech, or even our most ambitious musical performances.
A passing breeze that indicates a weather change; the first birdsongs of spring heralding a re-greening of the land and a return to growth and prosperity; an approaching storm promising relief from a drought, and the shifting tide reminding us of the celestial ballet. All of these experiences connect us back to the land and to our evolutionary past.’
‘Silence nurtures our nature, our human nature, and lets us know who we are. Left with a more receptive mind and a more attuned ear, we become better listeners, not only to nature but to each other’
One Square Inch of Silence – One man’s quest to preserve quiet by Gordon Hempton and John Grossman