Inner-Wilderness.com

NPR’s Living On Earth segment ran a story this week about silence in nature. Though this story could be interpreted as decrying human noise pollution, another listen could help us focus on being mindful of our ears.

Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton in the NPR piece reminds us that “all the higher invertebrates have the ability to hear, but not all of them have the ability to see.” He stresses that hearing, and even more importantly listening, is critical to all vertebrates— and that includes us. We have eyelids but no earlids, again indicating biology’s strong emphasis that we need to listen.

But smart, large-brained mammals like us have compensated for a lack of earlids by tuning out and turning off our senses. The sounds of the natural environment around us can be drowned out by the mental chatter we tolerate inside of our heads. I know this from experience. I work diligently at nature awareness, and yet I am astounded at how I can walk out to my barn— head full of ideas—and nearly totally miss the scolding catbird, the croaking bullfrog, and the rhythmic cicadas.

This week I was out with a local group at the Middle River at nightfall. The group stood in a circle that tightened up as it grew darker and darker. We listened to the silence and punctuated it with stories, laughter and jokes. Followed by more silent periods of listening to ourselves, to each other, to the land and its critters. It was as if the group was floating down the stream of natural engagement with the culture amongst us and the wilds around us—the total ecosystem. Laughter was our gift to the whole tableau. It didn’t feel totally human-centric, nor did we seem like intrusive noise-polluters violating a sacred silence.

I’m sure the experience spoke differently to each person present, as is always the case. We may hear the same sounds, but the same acoustic waves filter through our bones, brains and hearts so that listen creates a different message for each of us. Which creates diversity— that old commodity that allows nature in and around us to thrive.

Mindfulness of self and nature: sensory-based, non-judging, in the present moment–the total opposite to tuning out.

Reference: National Public Radio”s Living On Earth, August 21, 2009. Author Gordon Hempton’s new book: One Square Inch of Silence; One Man’s Search for Natural Silence in a Noisy World.