Wellness Calendar: Sunday 10 August

Silence, stillness and peace

Blaise Pascal wrote that “all of humanity’s problems would be solved if we could sit alone in a quiet room.” Yet, as a rule, we can’t sit still or quietly for any great length of time – and so our problems remain.

This is a part of the human condition: we are all restless souls. We are forever in motion, vibrating, bristling with life, driven by needs, urges, wants and desires. We don't have an off button or a pause button, stuck as we are on a hamster wheel or a treadmill. We are always full-on – even when we sleep.

Socrates suggested that we were like a leaky bucket: no matter how much we try to satisfy ourselves, it doesn’t take long before we are unsatisfied again – like an itch that cannot be scratched, a listlessness, an emptiness, a constant thirst and hunger.

With this in mind, perhaps taking time out for silence, stillness, peace and quiet, is no bad thing to attempt to do. What do you think?

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