That Mystery Floating Alongside

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  “The side of the ship made an opaque belt of shadow on the darkling glassy shimmer of the sea. But I saw at once something elongated and pale floating very close to the ladder. Before I could form a guess a faint flash of phosphorescent light, which seemed to issue suddenly from the naked body of a man, flickered in the sleeping water with the elusive, silent play of summer lightning in a night sky. With a gasp I saw revealed to my stare a pair of feet, the long legs, a broad livid back immersed right up to the neck in a greenish cadaverous glow. One hand, awash, clutched the bottom rung of the ladder. He was complete but for the head. A headless corpse! The cigar dropped out of my gaping mouth with a tiny plop and a short hiss quite audible in the absolute stillness of all things under heaven. At that I suppose he raised up his face, a dimly pale oval in the shadow of the ship’s side. But even then I could only barely make out down there the shape of his black-haired head. Howev...

Silence

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Very few nowadays have experienced true silence. Our world is saturated in sound. Everywhere we go, a TV is on, or music is coming from somewhere. Even if we turned them off we hear blowers, fans, engines running, a siren passing to some emergency somewhere, people talking on their handhelds or playing games. Vehicles are loaded with ridiculous sound systems that announce their presence long before they are seen.


Where are the quiet moments? When are the quiet moments? Can’t go to sleep without the sound of a machine running (maybe that’s snoring), or brown noise or ambient tones. No wonder our brains are restless. 


It’s time to strike out again, leave the headphones at home and find the silence God intends. Give your spirit a rest from the hubbub and listen to the wind in the trees, birdsong, the crackle of a fire. Somewhere, it’s snowing and in the soft-drifted-down is a deafening silence as the world snuggles under nature’s muffler. 

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