Listen to the Silence

I switched off the TV, the laptop stood silent on the desk.  The kettle made no noise, the traffic was light outside the window.  I had no book in my hand, no letter to read, no booklet to study.
The silence suddenly appeared very loud.
I cogitated for a moment.  Maybe we use things to keep the world at bay, shielding us from that we do not wish to contemplate.  How much of the world is hidden behind the television set I wonder? How did we cope before Radio and TV?  I suppose we went to the pub, joined groups of like minded hobbyists, or, whisper it quietly, talked to one another.  Maybe that is pushing it a wee bit.
How often do individuals sit alone, quietly, and just listen?
We are only forced into this if we wake at three in the morning, then the silence can be agonising, the thoughts in our tired heads terror filled, peace hard to come by.  How strange, yet most people endure such moments.
That is different from silence by choice, a positive move I say.
Standing at Fort William looking over the Loch to the hills I was struck by the silence of such large objects, and the hills are very large.  A seagull swooped across in the far distance but no sound came, just loud silence.  Behind the town the bulk of Big Ben towered up into the clouds but again the silence was noticeable.  This type of silence refreshes the mind, encouraging thinking not making the mind afraid to think.  Silence amongst creation refreshes the mind and the heart.  
How rarely we listen to the silence, how often we block it out via the things that fill the mind.  Does this occur because that is what we wish or because we do not take time to stop, think, listen?
I will be silent now, for a time.     

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