I believe in freedom of silence


You live in time; we live in space. You're always on the move; we're always at rest. Religion is our first love; we revel in metaphysics. Science is your passion; you delight in physics. You believe in freedom of speech; you strive for articulation. We believe in freedom of silence; we lapse into meditation. Self-assertiveness is the key to your success; self-abnegation is the secret of our survival. You're urged every day to want more and more; we're taught from the cradle to want less and less. Joie de vivre is your ideal; conquest of the desires is our goal. In the sunset years of life, you retire to enjoy the fruits of your labour; we renounce the world and prepare ourselves for the hereafter - from Reflections on Life East and West' by Hari N. Dam, Professor of Philosophy at Brighham University, USA. Ensign Magazine, 1971
Photo was taken by me recently ago at one of my favourite 'thin places', the town of Katwijk aan Zee in the Netherlands where the Sufi teacher and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan taught in the sand dunes and where his followers later built a Universal Sufi Temple. However the photo was not taken at the Sufi Temple: it shows the memorial on the seafront to the 275 sons of Katwijk who have been lost fishing the North Sea. On Overgrown Path will now lapse into blessed silence while I go off-grid again. But before leaving these shores I will be at sitar master Nishat Khan Aldeburgh Festival concerts; I am particularly looking forward to Meeting of Angels with the Saint Ephraim Male Choir as Nishat Khan's long-deleted CD of the same title with Ensemble Gilles Binchois is a personal desert island favourite. Snape Music has quite rightly taken some stick here recently but is to be praised for this adventurous piece of programming. Any copyrighted material is for critical analysis only and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Also on Facebook and Twitter.

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