Rediscovering Silence: Finding Your Life's Music in a World of Noise

by Will Gray

In an increasingly noisy, distracting world, the idea of enjoying silence — healthy silence — has become for many people just a mirage. We talk about "a little peace and quiet" not because we experience it regularly, but because it's a joke we tell ourselves when we're overwhelmed.

Silence is on the endangered experiences list. Today, if you're like most people, you'll spend 11 hours today in front of screens, interact with your phone more than 2,000 times, and encounter just as many commercial messages. Silence will hardly show up at all. Certainly not moments of silence you intentionally planned.

Part of the challenge is that silence has gotten a bad rap. The silent treatment, silent betrayal, and even deprivation have made us gun-shy, and rightly so.

Is it even worth trying to include silence in our lives? Rediscovering Silence argues yes. Using silence well is like using a muscle, and the best kinds of silence can rehumanize us, by introducing us to the gifts of listening, canvas, answer, anticipation, respect, rest, and wonder.

From the anechoic chamber of Microsoft's headquarters to the 36 questions that bring people closer together, from John Cage's "4 minutes and 33 seconds" to Yom HaShoah and the sunken place, this book is an adventure in search of an How can we find ourselves again in silence?

Explore powerful ideas as different as comic timing is from silent mode. Learn from voices as diverse as Jordan Peele and Jesus, Shusaku Endo and J.S. Bach, Arthur and Elaine Aron, Öslem Cekic, Emma Gonzalez, and Orson Welles.

Do you know the only difference between noise and music? It's whether the pattern between sound and silence is meaningful, or meaningless. The same is true of your life. Rediscovering Silence was written so you can begin to find, pursue, and even help to create a meaningful rhythm between sound and silence, a rhythm that transforms your life more into the music it's meant to be.

Genres: Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published May 20, 2020

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars (rounding up)

It seems appropriate that this book was released right as the shutdown happened in the U.S. Many of us have been experiencing more silence than we would have chosen (myself included); others are experiencing significantly less silence—home with kids/spouse/roommates 24/7 or required to go to work far more than usual. Wherever you fall in that (and whatever our new normal does to our silences when the height of this pandemic has passed), I highly recommend *Rediscovering Silence*.

Although I’m not typically an audiobook person (simply bc I’m not an auditory learner), I chose to listen to this one bc I have heard Gray read (and was able to attend his forum on silence last year) and knew he would do an excellent job. If it seems ironic to listen to a book on silence, fair enough, but it comes with the perk of listening to audio clips of the movies and speeches he references.

I recommend this book especially to cinephiles, but truly to anyone wanting to think more intentionally abt how we use silence and how we could use silence—using silence to lead us to connection and wonder and presence instead of using silence to perpetuate injustice and cause harm.

As the author states in the beginning, his exploration of silence does stem from his faith; however, this book truly does not assume or require that the reader shares this faith.

Give this a listen or a read, consider the observations this book provides and the questions it asks, take your time through it, and give yourself space to see what it does to your own attention to silence.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. Essential. Practical.