The silence is deafening.

"The reason we live in a culture increasingly without faith is not because science has somehow disproved the unprovable, but because the white noise of secularism has removed the very stillness in which it might endure or be reborn." (Andrew Sullivan)

I’m writing this on a Friday afternoon in the Bangalore airport. It is anything but quiet in here. The ambient noise of an airport…echoing off the hard floors and walls. A gate agent screeching rows that are now boarding (not a fan of using the PA system, I guess?). The not-so-occasional ding of a phone alert. A few babies making cute noises that are somehow just on the brink of screaming or crying. And here I am, thinking…contemplating…writing…and trying to find some clarity.

The fact that I’m in one of the most populated cities in the second most populous country on this planet is not lost on me. But, as I reflect and consider the quote above (something I’ve been holding on to for a few years now as potential inspiration for these random musings), I realize that I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed pure quiet. Pure, perfect, pristine, quietude.

I’ll admit that there’s no one to blame for this but me. I get up early in the morning…and do work. I am alone on my commute to work…and I listen to a podcast or music. On the rare occasions that I’m alone in the house…I listen to music, or read, or watch TV, or do work. I go on hikes…but even then, I push so they are more exercise, more of a trail run, and less about being at one with nature. Ironically, I’ve never found the time or consistent desire to meditate. But, even if I did, I don’t expect the few minutes a day I could manage would be sufficient.

My guess is that I’m not alone. I am merely one of millions in what Andrew Sullivan calls “a frazzled digital generation”. WARNING: I’m about to make entirely unfounded, broad, sweeping generalizations. In general, I think we have all lost our opportunities for stillness…and, with that, we’ve lost our memory of it too.

Wait, what? No, seriously. I think we’ve forgotten what it’s like to truly be at one with ourselves…only ourselves and our thoughts, however inspiring or terrifying they might be, in just perfect quiet and stillness. And without the memory of quiet, we’ve lost our hunger for it. Perhaps, we’ve even become a bit afraid of it. And so, the cycle perpetuates where we are constantly looking to fill the quiet moments rather than embrace them.

OK…thanks for reading this far. You can check your phone now to make sure you haven’t missed anything.