It's a 'radical act', but silence is the door to the soul

Erling Kagge - 'we don't wonder so much anymore'. Photo: Simon Skreddernes

Erling Kagge, 58, is a Norwegian explorer, publisher, author, lawyer, art collector, entrepreneur and politician. In 1993, he spent fifty days walking solo across Antarctica, a trek of 1300 kilometres, becoming the first person to reach the South Pole alone. He has also trekked to the North Pole and climbed Everest.

Drawing from his life, he wrote a "transformative meditation" with the English title Silence: In the Age of Noise (2019). The publisher's blurb states:

In this book. Kagge explores the silence around us, the silence within us, and the silence we must create. By recounting his own experiences and discussing the observations of poets, artists, and explorers, Kagge shows us why silence is essential to sanity and happiness—and how it can open doors to wonder and gratitude.

With the great Antarctic expanse surrounding him in all directions, he wrote in his journal on day 26 of that journey:

Here stillness is all-absorbing. I feel and hear it. In this endless landscape everything seems eternal and without limit.

For sure, over the eons of human experience silence has been known to be a portal to the supernatural.

In the world's wild places on land and at sea, Kagge gained a profound appreciation of silence. "Developed" societies have it that silence is "something that's empty, and amounts to nothing", according to an interview  last year on Australia's ABC Radio National. But for him, the opposite is true.

Silence is something, and it's rich; it's a quality. It's something exclusive and luxurious and a key to unlock new ways of thinking.

New ways of thinking! Yes! Get rid of those mental filters! But there is another matter of importance, as Kagge's interviewer writes: 

It's also something that can seem out of reach in the modern world, where switching off and slowing down can feel like radical acts.

It's important to acknowledge those "radical acts" and how such a commitment amounts to being "countercultural", which takes guts.

But Kagge gives us some leeway with his style of silence: "He discovered it's something you can find anywhere. ... It's there all the time — even when you're surrounded by noise. It's something we all have inside ourselves, waiting to be explored. It's an inner silence, a sense of deep stillness, which Kagge says has a lot to teach us about who we are." 

Kagge puts it this way:

I think most people are underestimating themselves in terms of silence and the possibility to get to know yourself. Some of the oldest advice throughout history is to get to know yourself, and I think any advice that has lasted for more than 1,000 years you should take seriously.

[Also,] most people have all this noise in our heads. Even if it's quiet around us we have noise in our heads, thinking too much.

Noise is always an easier option than silence. I think we are afraid of it because to explore your own silence is about making life a bit more difficult than it has to be, in the sense that the present hurts. It's easier to think about the past, about the future.

Silence is very much about being in the present. It's about getting to know yourself better. Sometimes that can be not very comfortable; it can be disturbing.

However, the interviewer reports that Kagge believes the rewards are bountiful - "His own inner silence has unlocked a deeper sense of gratitude for life, taught him that the simple pleasures hold the key to happiness, and helped him tap into a sense of wonder about the world."

Kagge says:

We were all born explorers, and if you look at kids, they are wondering all the time. But I think today we don't wonder so much anymore because if we are wondering about something we Google it and we find out right away. I think that's a pity because to wonder is one of the most beautiful things you can do in life.

The step-by-step approach to life is another element that he recommends, especially in this time of pandemic:

It's very much about pulling back, it's about cooling down, and it's also about being reminded about the secret to a good life is to keep your pleasures simple.

You can find the silence anywhere, wherever you are. And I think that's really important because you can't wait for silence to come to you, you have to invent your own silence. It's easier to find it in nature, at least for me, but you can find it anywhere. 

So, the message is to no longer be a "consumerist borg", but to be countercultural by focusing on the reality beyond the material and enjoying the bounty of the world instead of racing past it with headphones on. 

Ω For ideas on meditation, go here  

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