In the early 1970s, my kid sister — Denise — and I pooled our resources together and signed up for the Columbia House Record Club. Thirteen records or tapes for only one penny. Who could turn down that offer?
The hitch was in the fine print. We had to purchase 10 more records at regular club prices. To make it easy, the club gave us three years to uphold our end of the bargain.
To ensure we didn’t forget our commitment to purchase the additional 10 records, we received a notice in the mail every 30 days highlighting the album of the month. If we failed to promptly send back the notice rejecting that choice, it showed up in the mail the next month with a bill for $10.95 plus shipping and handling.
That was how Columbia House made its money.
One of the original 13 albums was Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits. On that record was the song that made them famous, “The Sound of Silence” (originally “The Sounds of Silence”).
Simon wrote the song in his bathroom when he was 21 years old. In an 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, Simon said, “I used to go off in the bathroom, because the bathroom had tiles, so it was a slight echo chamber. I’d turn on the faucet so that water would run (I like that sound, it’s very soothing to me) and I’d play. In the dark. ‘Hello darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again.’”
How many of you enjoy silence?
In today’s society, it has become almost impossible to escape the sounds of the world. Restaurants and bars have TV’s on every wall. Stores play music to help shoppers relax, hoping they will spend more time and money.
With the invention of the Boom Box, children could take music with them wherever they went and escape the silence. Today, there are radios for your shower.
Now we have — for better or for worse — cell phones filling our lives every waking moment with entertainment and noise. Some individuals with high anxiety need music or other noise to go to sleep.
There, we have a clue. When someone cannot sit in quiet it may point to a problem.
“Background noise may be used in an attempt to distract from or avoid unpleasant emotions and thoughts,” said Jenna Carl, a clinical psychologist and the chief medical officer at Big Health.
My wife can drive for hours without listening to anything but the tires on the pavement. Silence gives me a chance to be alone with my thoughts and to talk with God.
Before the invention of the radio and television, our great-great-grandparents never had a problem with silence. It was part of their lives.
Throughout history, holy men and women have known the benefits of silence. They would seek it out. Inspired by Elijah and John the Baptist, they became hermits, dedicating themselves to a life of prayer, solitude, and contemplation.
St. Anthony the Great (251-356) took the words of Christ to heart (Matt. 19:21), selling all his possessions, giving everything to the poor, and eventually withdrawing to an isolated mountain in the Egyptian desert for uninterrupted solitude.
St. Jerome (341-420), known for translating the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), spent much of his life in the desert, emphasizing the importance of scripture and solitude.
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was a courageous spiritual warrior who also lived as a hermit for a time before he founded his religious order.
Lest you think hermits are a thing of the past, hermits are still recognized by the Catholic Church today. Brother Rex Anthony Norris is a hermit currently serving in the Diocese of Portland, Maine.
St. John Paul II (1920-2005) often spent six to eight hours a day in various forms of prayer and meditation.
For Lent, I am currently reading a small book, “The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality” by Matthew Kelly. In it, Kelly encourages everyone to set aside 10 minutes a day in prayer and silence.
“And while I believe that God can communicate through anyone and anything at any time,” says Kelly, “his preferred venue is still silence and solitude. In the silence God speaks. Or perhaps it is just that in the silence away from the hustle and bustle of the world, we are able to hear him.”
The good news is that anyone can find 10 minutes each day for prayer, silence, and solitude. Who knows, you may like it so much that it expands to 20 or 30 minutes.
NOTE: If you’d like to shop without background music, Walmart turns off its music between 8 and 10 every morning.
