The Gentle Slope of Relentless Noise

William Hogarth (1697-1764) "The Enraged Musician"

While the radio, the television, the computer, and the iPhone stand as some of the grandest scientific advancements in the history of humanity they also are some of the most effective breakthrough tools ever made for advancing the powers of Hell.  Because of these devices our world is now incessantly and irreversibly filled with noise.  Silence has gone the way of the dodo bird and western civilization courses.  There is almost no square inch of our daily lives that is not now consumed with a buzz or a hum or a ding of an email, phone call, or entertainment device. 
 
These things are changing our souls and bodies.  The famous French mathematician, philosopher, and apologist Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) once remarked,
 
“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”[1]
 
This is a solid truism.  Our inability to sit and think or meditate for any significant amount of time reveals our fear of dealing with ourselves in any significantly intimate way.  Study after study proves that we are less capable of being at peace or in solitude than previous generations.  To date it has been shown that we have shorter attention spans than goldfish do, we have higher levels of attention disabilities than ever before, and we have a woeful capacity to retain basic content information.[2]  For example, in a series of 11 studies conducted by the University of Virginia, it was found that the vast majority of people between the ages of 18 to 77 could not spend a minimum of 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think – even if they were receiving a mild electric shock.[3]  In another study, it was found that while 95% of us can find time to do leisure activities over 83% could spend zero time just sitting and thinking.[4]  These statistics reveal a sickness within our post-modern souls. 
 
We have gotten to the place that silence terrifies us.  The late great Dallas Willard (1935-2013) said of silence,
 
“[S]ilence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life.  It reminds us of death, which will cut us off from this world and leave only us and God.”[5]
 
Because of this fear we fill the silence with the distractions of incessant activities and entertainment.  The problem is there is never enough of these, and we must therefore invent and consume more and more. 
 
We can do this and not even realize we are doing it! 
 
Consider a regular day you have and how much noise you consume.  It may go something like this: You wake up and grab your cellphone to check the news or watch a few trending videos sent to you the night before.  You get out of bed, get dressed, and make breakfast all the while watching the television or listening to the radio.  You leave for work or school, get in your car, and turn on the radio or plug in your earbuds.  You get to work and sit down to a screen for 7 to 9 hours with intermittent moments of music and/or videos playing in the background all day.  You go to lunch, get a quick meal, surf your phone, and watch more videos or listen to music.  You then go back to work, finish out the day, and drive home while listening to music from your iPod or radio.  You get home, make dinner, and sit down to unwind all the while watching the television or listening to the radio or both while at the same time messaging on Facebook or surfing Instagram.  After dinner you get ready for bed, surf on the apps on your phone a few more hours, or fall asleep to the television.  You wake up and repeat the process.  Sound familiar? 
 
In time this kind of living slowly, unknowingly, drowns out the capacity to hear what God is saying in His still small voice (Zephaniah 1:7; Zechariah 2:13) much less to understand one’s self or neighbors in any meaningful way.  This slow death of solitude on the Altars of Clatter inevitability leads us to have less emotional stability (because we always have to have others cheering us up), far more shallow relationships (because of our inability to talk with spouses or loved ones intimately), and far more mediocre spiritual growth (because we have less and less consistency in Bible reading or prayer). 
 
HELL DELIGHTS IN NOISE & FEARS SILENCE
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) The Screwtape Letters makes the point well through the mouth of the hellish Screwtape when he schools his nephew demon Wormwood on the power and goal of noise in the works of Hell.  Screwtape’s correspondence to the minor demoniac is as such,    
 
“Music and silence—how I detest them both [Wormwood]! How thankful we should be that ever since Our Father [Satan] entered Hell—though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light-years, could express—no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise—Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile—Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress.”[6]
 
Satan and his minions love our souls stunted.  One effective way to do this is to ensure we never take time to stand with our soul naked in solitude and stillness before our mind's eye or before the presence of God.  Instead, he likes us bunkered down in our souls, perpetually bombarded in our senses with an incessant clatter so we never find true peace. 
 
Noise is an opiate of the masses.  It dulls us and makes it impossible for us to come to terms with ourselves and to listen for God in any sustained intimate attentiveness. 
 
Amid the incessant clamor of social media personalities, political pundits, TikToks, and memes is it any wonder that sitting to pray, meditate, or even read the Scripture for a sustained period is excruciatingly difficult for us?  From cradle to grave we live in a cacophony of distractions muddling our attention spans and mental dexterity and aggravating our cravings for the ever-shinier and catchier.  Hell rejoices in this. 
 
SEEKING & FINDING SOLITUDE
One problem we have regarding silence is how we view it.  We tend to think of it as the absence of anything; it is the absence of doing.  It is not.  Silence is an activity and discipline which is an endeavor of profound nurturing and rejuvenation of the soul. 
 
The discipline of silence helps limit distractions in our prayer, meditation, and scripture reading; it brings a deeper focus in worship; it revivifies the body and the mind; it realigns our spiritual perspective; it helps us domesticate our mouth and thoughts; it helps us understand more clearly the will of God.[7]  But how do we achieve such silence in this busy world? This is difficult to do (or seemingly difficult to do) in the hustle and bustle of our lives filled with work and extra-curricular activities.  I will not give a long list but consider some of these ways:[8]
 
First and foremost, you must get to a place that you say “No” to other things.  This is the hardest battle.  You must get to a place that you say no to additional responsibilities and disturbances.  Say “No” to the television, to the radio, to the iPad, to the iPhone, and the computer.  You must say “No” to taking on more and more obligations that suck away more and more time from you and God.  Is your job sucking away additional time?  Then say no to more hours.  Are your kids’ extra-curricular activities sucking more and more opportunities for you to have peace in the presence of the King?  Then consider cutting back on how many activities your kids will be part of. 
 
You will find time and make time for those things you deem the most valuable in your life!  An overscheduled, overworked, individual will never find the time nor make the time to spend with God. 
 
Second, realign some of the opportunities of alone time you already have towards solitude with God.  Many of us have periods throughout our day or week when we have “downtime.”  This could be a day off, a period of cleaning the house, an extended lunch break, arriving early or leaving early from work, or a commute to and from work in the car.  In each of these, there is time we have that we do not realize.  We tend to fill these “downtimes” with incessant quantities of noise – Tiktoks, Youtube videos, and radio music.  Instead, allow periods like this to be an intimate meeting house of meditation and prayer and listening to God.  Allow this time to be a period of refreshing and peace, a period of conviction of sins known and unknown, and a time of clarity of purpose in mind and heart. 
 
Third, and finally, try and go somewhere physically to be alone for a time.  This can be going on a walk-in nature, sitting in a park, taking a drive, going to the empty church, retreating into a room in the house, or even getting up earlier before everyone else.  I realize this can be difficult if one has small children.  Perhaps in such instances, the husband or wife can rotate such a schedule to allow the other to go off alone at periods to be with God while the other cares for the kids.  Is this impossible?  Well, be reminded of Susanna Wesley (1669-1742), the mother of the famous evangelist's John and Charles Wesley, who had at least nine children living in her home at one time!  She took care of all of them upon her own accord and yet she still found time for solitude.  Her sons remembered her practice of solitude in which she would throw her apron over her head like a tent of meeting before the presence of God.  When this happened all the children in the house grew silent and did not disturb her, knowing she was meeting God in prayer and silence.[9]  Would we be able to get our kids today to respect our time with the Lord like this?  If not, then what does that tell us? 
 
We make time for babysitters to watch our kids when we go on a date, or we have our spouses cover when we have a boy's or girl's night out?  We rearrange schedules all day long to ensure we will have time for the family cookout or a run to Dairy Queen on a Sunday evening, but what about scheduled time with the Almighty?  Why not the same effort and desire when it comes to being with God alone and in silence?  I believe the answer is we do not see this as important. 
 
CLOSING
Dear friends, let us strive to recover the ancient Christian discipline of silence.  It is such a discipline by which our souls are nurtured and we come to hear our God speak His words of wisdom that quiet our restless souls. 
 
Jesus Himself demonstrated the beauty of silence repeatedly in His earthly ministry.  He would go into the wilderness alone (Matthew 4), He would leave large crowds of people and flee into the mountains (Matthew 14), He would rise early in the morning and go out into the wilderness (Mark 1), and He would depart from the masses constantly seeking Him out (Luke 4).  He did all of this that He could grow in His intimacy with God.  He understood that through solitude and silence His Father would give Him the power and wisdom to live abundantly the spiritual life. 
 
Let us follow the Way of our Master.    
 
1For God alone my soul waits in silence;
    from him comes my salvation.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
Psalm 62:1-2

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[1] I cannot find the exact source for this but I believe it is in his Pensées
[2] Data on these points: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2018/09/the-human-attention-span-infographic.html; https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/16/got-a-minute-global-attention-span-is-narrowing-study-reveals; https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190415081959.htm
[3] https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uov-dsi063014.php
[4] https://www.bls.gov/tus/home.htm
[5] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (New York, NY: HarperOne, 1991), pg. 163
[6] C.S. Lewis, Signature Classics, The Screwtape Letters (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2003), pg. 249-250
[7] An excellent discussion on the importance of silence and solitude came be read in Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, revised edition (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2014) pg. 226-238; also consider C.W. McPherson, Keeping Silence: Christian Practices for Entering Stillness (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 2002)
[8] I would also recommend reading in some more detail about various ways of silence and solitude in: Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, revised edition (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2014) pg. 238-248
[9] https://www.faithgateway.com/praying-example-susanna-wesley/#.YLT9hqhKguU