Saturday Morning

~ Live & Learn

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… I believe it’s possible for everyone to discover this silence within themselves. It is there all the time, even when we are surrounded by constant noise. Deep down in the ocean, below the waves and ripples, you can find your internal silence. Standing in the shower, letting the water wash over your head, sitting in front of a crackling fire, swimming across a forest lake or taking a walk over a field: all these can be experiences of perfect stillness too. I love that.

— Erling Kagge, Silence: In the Age of Noise

 

Notes:

  • Erling Kagge, in 1990, Erling Kagge and Børge Ousland became the first men ever to reach the North Pole unsupported. The expedition started from Ellesmere Island on March 8, 1990 and reached the North Pole 58 days later on May 4, 1990. They traveled approximately 800 kilometers on skis pulling their supplies on sledges.  Less than three years later, in 1992–93, Kagge completed the first unsupported expedition to the South Pole, covering the 814-mile (1,310 km) route in 50 days. Kagge had no radio contact to the outside world for the duration of this expedition.  In 1994, Kagge summited Mount Everest, thus becoming the first person to complete the “Three Poles Challenge“. (Source: Wiki)
  • Erling Kagge, Photo: Lars Petter Pettersen in Norway2019.com

16 thoughts on “Saturday Morning”

  3. I’m deeply impressed. I find my inner silence also in bed, which sometimes helps me turning off the ever turning wheels and cogs in my mind – and ultimately leads (too rarely, esp. now) to sleep, or sitting for myself, deep into a book …. but of course you’re bound to find silence on expeditions like his. Amazing way of expression for somebody who surely us not terribly talkative! Thanks for this gr8 share.
    🐇HAPPY EASTER🐰 to you, yours and your fan club here on WP.🐇

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    1. Smiling. You too Kiki.

      Here’s another which your comment triggered…

      Whenever I am unable to walk, climb or sail away from the world, I have learned to shut it out. Learning this took time. Only when I understood that I had a primal need for silence was I able to begin my search for it—and there, deep beneath a cacophony of traffic noise and thoughts, music and machinery, iPhones and snow ploughs, it lay in wait for me. Silence.”

      — Eerling Kagge, Silence: In the Age of Noise (Pantheon; November 21, 2017)

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  4. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    SILENCE … what I long for!! … “Standing in the shower, letting the water wash over your head, sitting in front of a crackling fire, swimming across a forest lake or taking a walk over a field: all these can be experiences of perfect stillness too. I love that.:
    – Eerling Kagge, Silence: In the Age of Noise

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  5. This morning, as I walked outside with Beaumont the Sheepadoodle, I was engulfed in the silence of falling snow. It is truly one of my most favourite silences — just not in April!

    Kagge’s love of silence and walking is legendary. With the miles and miles he’s covered he must have had no option but to fall in love with silence – it was his constant companion.

    The longest silence I have ever experienced was at a week-long silent retreat. It was both illuminating and terrifying to discover how much I rely on daily noise to separate me from being present to the beauty of silence in the moment.

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    1. Beaumont and snowflakes in April. Wow. Here’s another.

      “Whenever I am unable to walk, climb or sail away from the world, I have learned to shut it out. Learning this took time. Only when I understood that I had a primal need for silence was I able to begin my search for it—and there, deep beneath a cacophony of traffic noise and thoughts, music and machinery, iPhones and snow ploughs, it lay in wait for me. Silence.”

      — Eerling Kagge, Silence: In the Age of Noise (Pantheon; November 21, 2017)

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  7. What a beautiful share to begin this day! Long ago my spiritual teacher spoke about “going deep into the silence” … What is there to say about that! no words, no thought, just going there.
    We’re all being given more of an opportunity to experience various forms of silence these days–another benefit.
    [by the way I often read your 4am shares early in the day, but don’t like fiddling with my cell phone to answer…and often lose my post…but I’m appreciating with all of you–thanks!]

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