No time for rest
In the implementation not thought through to the end and not by chance discussed in the early morning hours: The additional day of rest at Easter. Most of us urgently need rest, but it rarely or never happens.
BY THE EDITOR
Rest, what rest?
Scientists measuring anthropological and seismographic sounds around the world, thanks to COVID-19, had stellar hours.
Such a radical reduction in global noise levels, by as much as 50 percent, as occurred during the first few months of the global COVID lockdowns has never been seen in the history of this measurement.
And not only in places like New York or Singapore, but also in the Black Forest, man-made acoustic signals became much weaker.
At a wide variety of measuring points, researchers measure everything that we ourselves hear every day, such as traffic noise in the city, but also noise that we do not perceive, such as the vibrations of schoolchildren’s footsteps or the sounds of freighters floating in the oceans far away.
The continuous measurement of sounds and vibrations is intended to detect earthquakes or volcanic movements due to unusual changes in noise levels as quickly as possible.
Rest is luxury
The loudest city in the world in the World Hearing Index (2017) is the Chinese city of Guangzhou, followed by Cairo, Paris, Beijing and Delhi. The city with the lowest noise level on the list of 50 cities: Zurich.
The company Mimi publishes the ranking, based on data from scientific noise measurement and WHO.
Subways that were built many decades ago, for example in Paris or London, reach noise levels at some stations where ear protection would have to be worn in the working environment.
Headphones have become an indispensable part of everyday life. But rarely do they serve to listen to nothing, but to exchange the sounds we find unpleasant for music or podcasts.
Silence and stillness we can rarely endure or realize in everyday life.
At best, we book a retreat in a monastery or other secluded place for silence.
Rest is torture
Only superficially has the pandemic brought us more peace of mind, perhaps because we have the luxury that our company’s products are in particularly high demand during the pandemic, home office is not a problem for us, or we are quasi-terminable, come what may.
Physicians and psychologists report greater inner turmoil in their patients, which is opposite to the outer calm. Easy to understand.
Often, peace and quiet in your own home can not stand. Silence in the home office does not automatically make you more productive.
Working together in silence
Silent Zoom conferences, where there is no talking but participants continue working in silence after a brief introduction until they say goodbye at the end of the agreed time, are well received.
Some people work more efficiently and effectively when they simply hear someone else, in this case via Zoom, hitting the keys on their computer, getting up from time to time to get a coffee, printing out documents, and so on.
Many people miss the normal noise level that they are used to in an office or co-working space.
Libraries are also a great place to work. It is quiet, but you are not alone.
Fascination tranquility
Some of the most famous paintings radiate tranquility. Be it Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which seems to rest in itself in a very unique way, and many pictures by Edward Hopper.
The wanderer above the sea of fog by Caspar David Friedrich, turns his back on us and we sense that he does not want to know about us, but wants to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature undisturbed.
If we long for a place with tranquility on vacation, but do not want to visit a monastery, then the list of possible vacation destinations becomes narrow. Everyone else has already discovered the “secret tip” that promises tranquility.
Nothing has remained more haunting in our memories than moments at Lake Tekapo in New Zealand, where the stroke of an oar could be heard in the haunting silence for many miles on the lake.
Tempi passati. Today the area is a tourist center.
At times, a lot of money and/or logistics and personnel are required to experience tranquility in a screened area.
Places where we can find peace and quiet are becoming increasingly rare. However, whether outer calm leads to inner calm is questionable. Can we bear what we hear inside us when we are at rest?
Rest in time
Calmness occurs when it is too late. In England, the victims of the Covid pandemic were remembered with a moment of silence at noon on March 23, 2021, exactly one year since the first lockdown began.
Minutes of silence are also an expression of respect after assassinations or in remembrance of war events.
The final rest is too late. Shouldn’t we give more space and importance to the topic of rest in our lives in time?
Do we really find peace only with an app that offers us music, lyrics or a sound tapestry? Is it possible to experience tranquility without meditation?
Can we still endure pauses in conversation without feeling that we have to fill the silence immediately with another speech?
Easter rest
GloriousMe was also not thrilled by the suggestion of an additional day of rest before Easter, because we know all too well the long lines in front of the good bakeries, the few fish stores that still exist and the butcher stores that value quality and species-appropriate breeding.
The extra day of rest before Easter seemed to punish all those who didn’t want to live on frozen food alone during Easter.
But the idea of trying out a little peace and quiet at Easter and perhaps taking a liking to it is appealing.
Perhaps silence is an underestimated counterpart to the continuous stimulation we dearly love?
We test silence for hours during Easter or at least read Don deLillo’s “The Silence” and the “Plea against the Noise of the World” by conductor Franz Welser-Möst. The Easter Festival in Salzburg is cancelled this year anyway.
We will report about the books at GloriousMe, should they keep what we promise from them and wish you a happy, maybe quiet Easter.
Photographs © GloriousMe
