A unique celebration of silence-in art, literature, nature, and spirituality-and an exploration of its ability to bring inner peace, widen our perspectives, and inspire the human spirit in spite of the noise of contemporary life.
The pursuit of silence can force you to confront yourself, which is why many people do everything they can to try and avoid it-often filling their world with vacuous sound. But it can also be transformative. Ultimately, embracing quiet-in contemplation, meditation, in nature, or even by examining certain kinds of media-is necessary for personal and societal growth because it invites us to widen our perspective and become better listeners, and it makes room for a more compassionate approach to the world.
Though our lives are bookmarked in silence-coming from an insulated womb, and going to another stillness in death-during our lifetime, we compete with exterior noise and a near-constant interior dialogue that judges, analyzes, compares, and questions. But, if we can get past this barrage, there lies a quiet place well worth the search. This book encourages people to embrace this search, shedding light on silence through the lenses of topics including:
A unique celebration of silence-in art, literature, nature, and spirituality-and an exploration of its ability to bring inner peace, widen our perspectives, and inspire the human spirit in spite of the noise of contemporary life.
The pursuit of silence can force you to confront yourself, which is why many people do everything they can to try and avoid it-often filling their world with vacuous sound. But it can also be transformative. Ultimately, embracing quiet-in contemplation, meditation, in nature, or even by examining certain kinds of media-is necessary for personal and societal growth because it invites us to widen our perspective and become better listeners, and it makes room for a more compassionate approach to the world.
Though our lives are bookmarked in silence-coming from an insulated womb, and going to another stillness in death-during our lifetime, we compete with exterior noise and a near-constant interior dialogue that judges, analyzes, compares, and questions. But, if we can get past this barrage, there lies a quiet place well worth the search. This book encourages people to embrace this search, shedding light on silence through the lenses of topics including:
Sarah Anderson founded the Travel Bookshop in London in 1979, the shop later featured in the film Notting Hill. She studied Chinese at the London University college of SOAS, and at Heythrop, where she earned an MA in the psychology of religion. She has taught travel writing at City University, writes regular travel pieces, reviews books, and gives talks worldwide. Her paintings have been exhibited throughout London, and she is the author of the book Heaven's Face Thinly Veiled.
“We live in a noisy world. In The Lost Art of Silence, Sarah
Anderson reminds us what peace there is when we get away from the
din and the clamor going on both in the outside world and inside
our heads. Through a rich compendium of historical and personal
examples we are shown the prizes, and sometimes pitfalls, that
silence offers. A fascinating book to dip into when we want to opt
out.”
—Vicki Mackenzie, author of Cave in the Snow
“A fascinating travelogue through the many worlds of silence as
expressed by writers, artists, philosophers, hermits. This
compendium of experience and reflections on silence spans the
cosmic to the horrifying, offering a full spectrum of human
engagement with the quest for quiet. Anderson shares inspiring
stories and heroic encounters with the self in silence, encouraging
readers to take up the quest and join the legions across history
who have, in the end, found that ‘silence is not the absence of
something but the presence of everything.’”
—Stephanie Kaza, author of Conversations with Trees
“Elegant and ethereal. . . . Readers will be fascinated by the
author’s wide-ranging musings and drawn in by her lyrical language.
. . . This is spellbinding.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Erudite and pleasantly eccentric. . . . Anyone looking for
inspiration to turn down the world's volume will find a useful
starting point here.”
—Shelf Awareness
“This beautiful book takes readers through many domains of silence
with its call to reconnect within. . . . A hugely important book
for our noisy and distracted time.”
—Paradigm Explorer
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