Silence in the Cairngorms – from Nan Shepherd’s “The Living Mountain”
Having disciplined mind and body to quiescence, I must discipline them also to activity. The senses must be used. For the ear, the most vital thing that can be listened…
Category: sound
Silence and the limits of language
“That for which we find words in something already dead in our hearts. There always is a kind of contempt in the act of speaking.” – Nietzsche, The Twilight of…
Schopenhauer on noise
From “A Cabinet of Philosophical Curiosities” by Roy Sorensen: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) contends that there is no point in arguing about whether noise is annoying. If noise bothers…
Hearing secret harmonies in Dunfanaghy – Arnold Bax in Donegal, from “Farewell My Youth”
(edit 30th August 2018 – (edit 30th August 2018 – for further extracts from Arnold Bax’s “Farewell My Youth”, see here on the forgotten and despised man of the Irish revolution,…
Yet you came, and were not turned away: Epiphany / Theophany
It is Epiphany, or Theophany in Eastern Christendom. Water features strongly in this liturgy; it is the occasion of the Great Blessing Of The Waters. This video, seven years old,…
“In Search of Grace” , Peter Reason
From James Common’s blog, an extract from a fascinating sounding book whose themes seem to chime with my own interests. I particularly found this passage resonant: ‘Silence’ is a fascinating…
The Power of sound – Blogging the #Octonauts: Kwazii Meets the Mixed Up Whale
Following a recent post on possibly excessive self-sacrifice in an episode of the Octonauts, here’s a more unambiguously positive post on an episode which neatly illustrates an environmental issue that…
Happy World Listening Day!
It is World Listening Day. I am a bit leery of too many confected “Days” However, anything that encourages listening is itself to be encouraged. From the World Listening Project…
Séamus Sweeney 