Silence!

October 9th, 2021| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

Listen to it—all the noise around us, the music, the words, the whirring, buzzing, murmuring, chattering, and whining of those multiple contraptions that supposedly make life easier. It’s everywhere. All the time!

But authors of “Global Quieting of High-Frequency Seismic Noise Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Measures,” published in Science, found exactly that: global quieting!

Seismometers the world over detect noises from trains, airplanes, industrial processes, and other sources. Of course, disentangling these sounds is essential if one wants to listen to natural noises. Overall, anthropogenic seismic noise levels have increased over the past few decades, and there is a clear positive correlation between this increase and gross domestic product. But when the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began to ravage the planet, humans—and Earth—went quiet. Indeed, there was a drastic reduction in noise levels: anthropogenic vibrations dropped by 75% in most countries that imposed lockdown measures imposed in response to the pandemic.

Reported the collaborating scientists from the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Imperial College London, and a host of other institutions around the globe:

The 2020 seismic noise quiet period is the longest and most prominent global anthropogenic seismic noise reduction on record. Although the reduction is strongest at surface seismometers in populated areas, this seismic quiescence extends for many kilometers radially and hundreds of meters in depth. This quiet period provides an opportunity to detect subtle signals from subsurface seismic sources that would have been concealed in noisier times.”

So for all its hardships, the lockdown unlocked a door to scientific inquiry into environmental noise. Because, apparently, you could hear things you couldn’t hear before.

So much so, the meetings of the American Geophysical Union now holds a special session called “Social Seismology.”

No doubt all this noise in our lives and around our lives stand in the way of listening to God. This is not anything new. The ancients recognized that all along. Throughout the history of the church, believers have found that certain activities have helped them better see God and better hear his truth.

One of those spiritual disciplines is silence, the temporary closing off of our souls to the ruckus in our lives. This is a rather shocking spiritual discipline, because it leaves the impression that nothing is happening. In a go-go world what could be worse than that? But the truth is that God works even when things are silent and dark.

“Stop and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10

“Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD.”
Zechariah 2:13

“The LORD is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before Him.”
Habakkuk 2:20

Practiced alongside solitude, silence is a critical spiritual discipline that energizes the soul.

This, of course, includes the silence of not speaking.

This you know, my beloved brethren.
But everyone must be quick to hear,
slow to speak …
If anyone thinks himself to be religious,
and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart,
this person’s religion is worthless.
James 1:19, 26

All in all, silence helps us practice the discipline of non-distraction and concentration. Upon God and the things of God. Upon his word. Upon reflection. For all of which we, today, have no time.

But we must find time for these things, lest we be conquered by the mundanities of living and tyrannies of the urgent. There are things far more important than the humanly created activities going on all around us and within us.

I shall say no more … and be silent (for now).

SOURCE:
Science