When was the last time you heard nothing?
It seems everywhere we go there is noise. Everything we do involves noise. Get in a car, turn on the radio. Go to the gym, plug in the headphones. Come home from work, turn on the TV. Even if we aren't listening, we still do these things.
Why?
I think we are afraid of quiet. Afraid of silence. Afraid of ourselves.
The noise, whether foreground or background, keeps us from having to actually think about our life. We can just tap our feet to the music. We can have our conversations scripted for us. Just discuss the latest. News. Sports. Weather. Anything but your own life. We go to dinner and never say a word about anything except the game that's on. We read a book with the TV on. We blast the latest Top 40 and have 900 channels to distract us. No pesky thoughts of our own invading.
Silence is awkward. It makes us think.
