Disclaimer: I know, not what your were expecting to find on here, but truth is hidden in many places. While I don't condone many of their songs, this one is really moving.
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed
By the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs
That voices never share
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools, " said I, "you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
And the words that it was forming
And the sign said,
"The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls."
And whispered in the sound of silence
-Disturbed, The Sound of Silence
I love artists, and being married to one (artist/art therapist) has only increased my sensitivity to their uncanny ability to convey and bring into vision those truths we sometimes wish not to, or are unable to see. As you are listening to the song, I hope it is as haunting, beautiful, and inspiring to you as I found it. If nothing else, in reading the lyrics, I anticipate one of the truths of our culture, especially our youth, reveals itself.
That is, as big as the world has become, as crowded as it has become, our ability to become isolated in the crowd or lost in the masses has increased with it. And yet, deep inside our souls, we are begging to break that isolation, that silence; and in doing so have our voices heard, have someone recognize we are there, and really listen to us. For it is in this acknowledgement we become fully known, we start to heal or progress in our lives, and when we finally truly find joy.
Underneath the trips, activities, and meetings this is what VLA is combating. We desperately want to facilitate a place, provide the tools, and present the opportunities for those seeking to find the One who has the true power to break through that silence and stop it’s cancer from spreading.
Ironically, one of the best ways to do this is in solitude and true silence; because, it is when we get away from the crowds, the isolating business that creates a suffocating silence amidst the noise, we are able to still ourselves enough to hear the One who beckons lovingly to us.
“It is the cure because we discover that solitude is not aloneness. It is rather the place where the One who knows and loves us always, in all ways, the one who does understand us- that One comes to meet us.” - Mark Buchanan
Much like Elijah, we must listen for the sound of God speaking to us, not in earthquakes or fire, but in the gentle breeze on the side of a mountain (1 Kings 19:11-13)
