Seeing Silence
This work is a celebration of silence. Out in nature it usually takes awhile for the crazy whirl of thoughts to quiet themselves. When I become aware that the buzz of thoughts has fallen away, what often remains is a spacious, quiet and easy joy.
What is the source of this spacious silence? Does it come from inside myself or from the place itself? It seems that I wouldn’t be aware of the silence if that silence wasn’t also a part of me. It seems there is a transparent boundary between the two. Have subject and object become one and the same?
There are no answers of course. I have to remain content with the questions themselves, holding them close like a Zen koan or riddle. Often my response is to write a short poem to echo the experience. In this series I chose to combine the visual encounter with a poetic response in an intimate and hopeful conversation that honors the joy of seeing silence.
“The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega. It is God’s brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blended note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence.....Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing.”