1.
Flight — ambient music and video by Andō
From the Community
This piece of sound is from
who writes . Andō’s commitment to creating space for Silence has stayed with me from the moment I came across her work. I happened upon it here on Substack, and I’ve enjoyed adventuring further into the various offerings on her website.There’s a lot of electronic ambient music out there, most of which do a pretty good job of… well, being ambient. It brings enough contrast between ‘you’ and ‘the world’ so that you can focus on whatever it is you are in - whether that’s creative work, cleaning your home, or conversing with friends.
But ‘Flight’ is more intentional than ambiance. It invites Silence.
The quiet that you find waiting for you when you rise with the sun on a Winter morning.
The stillness that you encounter in your body when you see a great piece of art, and you just stop thinking.
The nothing-everything-ness you become when you stand on the edge of a cliff, looking across the horizon where the sky, land, and water meet.
The first time I listened to this piece, I played it through my AirPods, sitting on a train heading home from London. It was a busy train, it was getting dark outside, it was wet and grey and raining. I was kind of in a bad mood.
By the time the piece finished, my bad mood was still there — but I had stopped trying to make myself feel any other way than I was. I was present to all the different components of my bad mood - my tiredness, my slightly disturbed digestion from the station sandwich I ate in about 2 seconds, and my irritation at how inconvenient it is to travel. My lostness, and fear that I don’t really know what I’m doing and nobody else seems to either.
And then… silence found me. My bad mood was just a bad mood and no longer a problem.
2.
A Morning Tanka for Late Risers — a tanka by Joseph Massey
The gift is to wake
nameless, wordless, without form
in a room without
walls, the shapeless bright, the breath
cleaving a self from silence.
- Joseph Massey
I’m not an early riser. When I was a little younger in my early 20’s, I used to wake up to my alarm with a startle, and then cry when I realised what was happening and that it was time to get up. It was a source of great amusement to my housemates.
Now, I’m beginning to appreciate the quality of the morning. There’s a silence that’s already there waiting to nourish us before we begin the day.
This poem by
says it all. 13.
On Death, Life and Silence — a quote from Kahlil Gibran
From the Library
Then Almitra spoke, saying, "We would ask now of Death."
And he said: "You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light. If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor. Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king? Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling? For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
— Kahlil Gibran
🔆 STARTING WITH SILENCE 🔆
For those of you who are in London, I am organising this series of morning bodywork classes. In-person near Finsbury Park, from 8am - 9am. A light breakfast is available after if you wish to stay.
All are welcome, and I hope to meet some of you :).
To
: I usually ask before I share, but I came across this post this morning, and I couldn’t not include it. 🙏🏽
Beautiful poem!