stone 2: silence, and the fury of sound

Two weeks from the declaration by the World Health Organisation that we are confronting a pandemic, Channel 4 News put up this surreal video with its plaintive, repetitive beat. (watch it now if you can spare 9mins)

The world seemed to have gone quiet. We entered a zone none of us felt ready or familiar with.

But quickly, an insufferable amount of agitation followed and the fury of sound consisting of drivel, pap, spume rankled all around us, threatening to swallow the substance and truth we need.

There can be no general consensus about this: we are both drawn to the silence but also deeply disturbed by it.

In truth, this is how we often feel about most things -which are far from flat and can be captured in the shorthand language we are so fond of these days.

Every where one turns, there are words and more words about how this strange season is undoing us, revealing us, mocking us, remaking us…. All of which points to a need for us to pay attention, to listen, to notice. These acts can only happen where there is a pause, a space, a silence.

Most of us are not paying attention or listening because we are thinking up our response. Most of us don’t notice because we pre-conclude that we already know what it’s all about, or that there isn’t anything to…