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their minds had been made up: silence is fine to have on hand when you’re feeling sad. Beyond that, it’s useless.
My surroundings remained constant; I was the one who changed.
Nature spoke to me in the guise of silence. The quieter I became, the more I heard.
life. The world disappears when you go into it,
The secret to walking to the South Pole is to put one foot in front of the other, and to do this enough times. On a purely technical scale this is quite simple. Even a mouse can eat an elephant if it takes small enough bites. The challenge lies in the desire. The biggest challenge is to get up in the morning when the temperature is fifty
degrees below freezing, in landscapes that mirror those of Roald Amundsen’s and Robert Scott’s times. The next hardest challenge? To be at peace with yourself.
Silence is more of an idea. A notion. The silence around us may contain a lot, but the most interesting kind of silence is the one that lies within. A silence which each of us must create. I no longer try to create absolute silence around me. The silence that I am after is the silence within.
Remind each other that satisfaction is also a matter of sacrifice. Waiting felt strange. But I have never felt as rich as I did in that moment of silence.
Shutting out the world is not about turning your back on your surroundings, but rather the opposite: it is seeing the world a bit more clearly, staying a course and trying to love your life.
the basic state of our brain is one of chaos
I have gradually come to realize that the source of many of my problems lies precisely in this struggle.
‘All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.’
The present hurts, wrote Pascal. And our response is to look ceaselessly for fresh purposes that draw our attention outwards, away from ourselves.
Bliss – a second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious – lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay
close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you.
it’s more difficult to value silence than noise,
Biology has a natural explanation for my lack of common sense: we are not born to be satisfied. A different chemical in the brain, opioid, is supposed to create that feeling of happiness once you’ve achieved your goals. Unfortunately, dopamine is stronger than opioid, so even if you’ve attained all you ever dreamed of you will continue to do the same thing. Hence the dopamine loop. It is more fulfilling to anticipate and seek, to wander in circles, than simply to value and appreciate the fact that you have fulfilled your desires.
In a way, silence is the opposite of all of this. It’s about getting inside what you are doing. Experiencing rather than over-thinking. Allowing each moment to be big enough. Not living through other people and other things.
Shutting out the world and fashioning your own silence whenever you run, cook food, have sex, study, chat, work, think of a new idea, read or dance.
‘Life is long if you know how to use it.’
‘Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. When they come to the end of it, the poor wretches realize too late that for all this time they have been preoccupied in doing nothing.’
You cannot wait for it to get quiet. Not in New York, nor anywhere else. You must create your own silence.
silence is the only need that those who are on the constant lookout for the latest luxury can never attain.
Business people are mostly just about business: what they want is more, not less.
Another form of luxury is to be unavailable. To turn your back on the daily din is a privilege. Letting others take over tasks in your absence. The
decision not to reply to text messages or pick up when the phone rings. Expectations from colleagues, business connections and family that are not that important to you are handed over to someone else, or ignored altogether. You have fought your way into a p...
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noise is and remains a disturbing element that reduces our quality of life.
Silence is about rediscovering, through pausing, the things that bring us joy.
Silence can be anywhere, anytime – it’s just in front of your nose. I create it for myself as I walk up the stairs, prepare food or merely focus on my breathing. Sure, we are all part of the same continent, but the potential wealth of being an island for yourself is something you carry around with you all the time. «
when you end up driving in the wrong direction, are forced to stop, check the GPS, turn down the music and ask others in the car to quiet down so you can get some clarity in your head. This enables you to gather your thoughts about the one thing that holds any meaning in that one precise moment: finding the right direction.
In knowing oneself, you know others.
ever has the chance to think out the ideas that could revolutionize the rocket industry, he replied: ‘A normal work day at best contains eight hours of meetings, a few hours to respond to emails. It all blurs together. The only time to shut out the world is when I exercise, surf, take a shower or sit on the toilet. That’s when new solutions surface.’
‘Ethics so far as it springs from the desire to say something about the ultimate meaning of the life, the absolute good, the absolute valuable, can be no science.’ It must be shown, thought and felt. « »
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.
That which is vital, which is unique, is already within you.
Because, in addition to our habits, which of course impose multiple restraints, we are guided and driven by our feelings. It’s easy to forget this at times, and so it can be helpful to reflect on the thoughts of people such as Nansen, Helberg and Fosse. « »
Chatter and other noises can easily become defence mechanisms to help avoid the truth.
This doubt ‘endows each moment with desire, this is what gives life the successful love’.
‘Now I shall be silent, and let the silence divide that which is true from that which lies.’
Allow the world to vanish when you go into it.
