Sarah Anderson, a writer, painter, and the founder of London’s Travel Bookshop made famous in the film Notting Hill, examines the cultural, spiritual, and social history of silence in her book, The Lost Art of Silence (Shambhala, Dec.). She also explores why some people are afraid of the quiet, and what can be gained by silence. “By being silent you can dig deep into yourself,” she says. “I think the more one can discover about oneself, the better.”
When did you get the idea for this book?
I took a trip to the Antarctic where I went on a Russian icebreaker and we got off into small dinghies. We were sailing in and out of the icebergs, and the captain turned the engine off, so it got very quiet. Then it began to snow. That was such a magical moment and I’ve been trying to recapture that silence ever since. Olympic National Park in Washington State is meant to be the quietest place on Earth, but if you watch a video of it you can hear the sounds of the forest, which are very loud. In the Antarctic there was nothing; it was just completely quiet, and it was wonderful. It took me a long time to write this book. It wasn’t something I sat down and wrote in a couple of years. I went to the Antarctic in 2005 and although I didn’t start the book then, I think it possibly began gestating then.
What is one of the benefits of including more silence in our lives?
Noise is very distracting. It takes us away from our thoughts, things we need to do or interactions with other people. I think one of the most important things between human beings is listening to one another. You can only really listen if you come from a space of silence. Just look at any world religion. I can’t think of a single one that doesn’t have silent moments or silence built into it. All these sages and priests must be on to something.
You point out that silence is not a complete absence of sound—what do you mean by this?
In what is meant to be the most silent place in the United States there is definitely natural sound. It’s almost impossible to find total silence. There are places called anechoic chambers, which NASA uses to prepare people who are going to space. Most people can’t hack it for more than 30 minutes. I’ve never tried, but it seems strange that people would find it so difficult. Some people say there are no sounds, but others say there are because you can hear your own body sounds, like your stomach gurgling.
How can people who live in loud or noisy environments find more silence in their lives?
Once you’ve discovered a silent space within yourself, even if you’re in a noisy environment, you can get back into that space. It’s not necessarily easy, but you don’t need to listen to music or talks all the time. Just being silent in the world, without personal noise, can be helpful. And there are always quiet places, like churches, temples, or mosques that you can go to. Most cities have some kind of park space, and cemeteries tend to be quiet. There are pockets of places that are quiet, even when there is noise all around.
