Tag Me Tuesdays-#283 The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

My greatest lessons come from being silent.

There was a piece of music that was done by a composer named John Cage that’s called 4:33. The idea behind this piece was to have the audience hear total silence from the instruments as they would not play for the length of 4 minutes and 33 seconds. I’ve heard different renditions from different symphonies and composers doing this piece, and it’s a unique experience as you hear the coughs of people on stage or in the audience, or foot shuffles or other noises in the atmosphere of the concert hall or wherever it’s being performed.

John Cage wanted this piece to be taken seriously and not seen as a joke, and that’s why he didn’t do it right away when he thought about performing it. The interesting thing is when I first heard it, I thought it was a little foolish. And maybe after 20 or 30 seconds of being confused to why the musicians weren’t playing, I began listening more deeply. Having no clue what 4:33 meant I listened intently waiting for the excitement of the music to be released from the instruments…and what I found while waiting, was that I began listening to the environment. I became enthralled with the so called normal sounds of life that we hear all the time and think nothing about.

4:33 was influenced by Zen Budhism, as I believe John wanted to helps us become more aware and mindful in the silence of life. When you pay attention to silence, it magnifies the other so called normal sounds of life. And when you can really hear those sounds again, you find beauty in the ordinary, you are awakened.

He also attributed this piece to  Robert Rauschenberg’s White Paintings. Where canvases where painted with white paint and how the shadows of people observing the paintings would change your point of view… I know in my younger years I would’ve see such works as 4:33 or White Paintings as foolish…but I now see that there is something unique and wonderful in the spaces in between the exciting times in our lives. For me, I see 4:33 as a viewing of the present moment and the awakening to see the beauty and art in the so-called normalcy of life.

Silence speaks loudly when we decide to take notice. If you ever thought about movement and space. The only way we can know something is moving is if we have context to it. So I only know you are running because I am standing still, or I know you are running faster than me if you are pulling ahead of me. Let me make this example crystal clear, in the vacuum of space…there is nothing but darkness...and a person…whether they are running or not… you could never tell the difference unless there’s something else to compare it to. And that’s what silence and the normal aspects of present life are…they are the context in life that help us see motion, that help us hear sound, that help us truly become engrained in life.

As music isn’t about noises being made, but rather music is about the pauses that are in between the noises. If music was a continual noise…it would just be one long piece of racket. In life we want to be spoon fed the answers. We want preachers to tell us the meaning of our religious books instead of reading them first and coming to our own conclusions and then hearing what they have to say. We want music to be played for us in an elegant way instead of hearing the beauty in the silence of life. We want movies and other forms of media to entertain us. We’ve forgotten to find the beauty in a sunrise or sunset, we’ve gotten lost in the silence—waiting for someone else to make music out of life, and we’ve forgotten what it’s like to stand still and see the canvas of art God has given to us.

In an earlier affirmation I said something like, “when I speak I’m saying what I know, but when I listen I’m learning something new.” And the wise people of this world listen more. Not because they don’t have answers, but because they are trying to find better answers. They are trying to suck the marrow out of life and truly hear, see, taste, and experience something more profound. When we take time to stop, to be still, to truly hear silence…we awaken the senses in our life that have answers we have forgotten about.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
Hear the sounds in silence today purposefully. When you get up, go to the window and open it up to hear what’s happening outside. Turn the radio off on your drive to work and listen to the sounds around you. Before you start your work day, take a minute to hear the sounds around your work setting. At lunch before you just shove food in your mouth or talk with someone…truly listen.  Spend your day being purposeful in your silence. Hear the beauty in life and see what happens and see how you feel today.

My greatest lessons come from being silent.

 

 

Thanks for listening.  I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: [email protected]  phone:865-219-3247

 

 

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide