A voice in the silence

On certain days, when the wind is out of the northwest, our farm falls silent to the noise of the outside world. There is no drone of traffic, no siren, nor background city noise, only an uncanny silence that we of the modern world find so unfamiliar that it is, at first, unsettling.

Sit by a calm lake on such a fall day and open your senses to the natural world. Listen to the leaves rustling in the trees. There is a voice there like no other. Open your eyes to the detail and in a short time you’ll realize that there is more life around you than your everyday eyes can see. Take in the scent of the lake and its surroundings. Your senses become clearer, your mind quiet, and you have time to realize that you are alive and, for a moment, part of the Earth - not a machine. It is not a feeling of loneliness, it is a feeling of belonging, and there is none more satisfying.

I have felt triumph, pride, love, hate, sadness, jealousy, wonder, and frustration in my life. All the moments I’ve lived have brought me feelings, but most of those experiences swirl together in a frantic, blurred, muddle. They all fade, pale and irrelevant, when compared to the sensation of serenity I have experienced in those moments of natural silence.