The sound of silence

Consider, for a moment, the thought of sitting in silence — perhaps in a mountain cave or in an empty house. Unless you’re one of the relatively few people in the Western world whose days aren’t punctuated by sounds of traffic, sirens, radios, TVs and phone alerts, this thought is probably either fear-inducing or enticing.

Of course, noise has always been a component of human life, but never in the history of humanity has silence been so hard to come by. With the advent of certain technologies, busier lives and the fact that there are literally more people walking on the planet than ever before, moments of silence are becoming more and more elusive.

Perhaps it’s precisely because of the uncommonness of silence that we resist it. As a species