Sunday Silence

Also on the Start the Week round table mentioned below was the author Susan Hill. She was discussing her recent essay "Silence, Please." We need more silence, she says, for reasons both reflective and sensory. Silence can make thought richer and it can separate out sound into distinct events that we actually hear.

There is a day that I could set aside for some silence if I wanted to. Sunday is, technically, a day of rest. Or at least that was its origin in Western society. But even believers in Sunday's divine mandate check that box by going to church and relaxing with friends or family or whatever hobbies or pleasures there wasn't time for during the week. What if I made a point of resting from pleasures as well as pains? Church is a kind of rest for the soul. But what if I treated other even good things as something to be rested from on occasion?

What if next Sunday I don't go into work early to tinker with video installations (not entirely under my control), don't listen to Start the Week podcasts while driving to work, don't spend the afternoon reading around the internet, don't work through exhibition designs, and don't schedule a movie marathon with friends for the evening. What if next Sunday I rest with silence?

But for now, I'm back off to work...