The Sounds of Silence
"Hello darkness my old friend.
I've come to talk with you again."
Paul Simon
wrote this song as a teenager in the bathroom with the door closed and the light off. It is something my kids do when they get upset or are just frustrated with things. They hide in the dark. Sometimes they put a blanket over their head or like Paul Simon they go in the bathroom and turn the light off. I tried it too and even brought my guitar. The silence has a music of its own that I feel sorry to break. The darkness enhances our ears ability to listen to sounds and helps us to become aware of the true surroundings. There are no visual distractions. There is no media, just me and my guitar.
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Allegory of the Cave
Darkness does have it's place but I can't stay there too long. Just long enough to appreciate the light around me. Although darkness makes my senses aware and helps me to realize who I am I can not stay in darkness. We all know the allegory of the cave in book five of the Republic. Those who lived in darkness could only see the shadows of things that passed by. They could not see the actual being itself. Finally when they were loosened from their chains and brought to the light it was too late. They did not recognize the light to be good at all. Their eyes were so used to the darkness that when they sensed light they could only sense pain. They were so angry at the men who "set them free" that they killed the men who brought them to the light. This was the life of the martyr of the philosophers and truth seekers of history. There are some well known martyrs and some unknown by the world. They each gave their lives for the truth. They shined a light that the world was not ready to understand.
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Tales from the Crypt
Darkness is where each one of us begins. When I think back to 6 months ago I knew nothing about block chain except for some bitcoin news that suddenly showed up on my phone. I learned about currencies first by downloading a wallet and mining. I was still in the dark following shadows. I came to Steemit and a whole new world opened up. I found people in the same boat. We shared our stories and struggles together. This was a wonderful light I have never seen in a social network before. Yet if I share what I learn and explain it to people I get these answers,
"That's too complicated. Can't it be easier?" "Can't you see it is just a pyramid scam?" "You don't know anything about it yet. You should stay away from it."
I feel like people are in the dark ages when it comes to the crypto world. They think I am talking about tales from the crypt if I bring up any thing from Steemit I learned.
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Sounds of Silence Lead to Light
Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus.
People believe the cutest things and I can see why remaining in darkness is a good place to hide and reflect and listen but step by step we have to help them get out of the darkness. The sounds of silence are brilliant only when they lead us to the light.
Note: To understand this post best please reference the previous post:
https://steemit.com/poetry/@mineopoly/stop
One small step for man.
Come into the light.
Love,
365GROOVY
@mineopoly
wow, deep stuff! I love it! One of the martyrs I thought of when i read your post was edward snowden, he tried to explain how the US government was spying on everyone including its own citizens illegally and now people want him to die because he told the truth!! how fricken sad is that. your story about the the people living in the dark nailed that head on!! man, i cant wait till you have a bigger following, you will be huge on steemit one day. You are a much better writer than me, i just work the system harder lol..
however (i hope this doesnt come off wrong) i think your format could be more appeasing my friend! If you would break up the paragraphs more stuff wouldn't look so squished and hard to read.. let your article breath a bit. put in some headlines in it, or some bold or italic or both in some places.. you have such great things to say, make them easier to read! ;)
full upvote my friend, keep up the good work.
Oh, I also love Simon and Garfunkel! the headline dragged me into this one.
Great
Glad you like it. Thank you so much for the comment, guidance and upvote.
paragraphs
I can see what you mean about the paragraphs. There is some bold and italics in there. I think they need headings. That will help it breath.
Snowden
About Edward Snowden I will read more. There are so many in every nation who loved the truth and loved people and nation and stood by the truth. In your case you were exposed full time for some years so you participated in their struggle.
Blog
As for me on Steemit. I'm not quite ready to play the system. Part of it is that I don't have time and the other part is I don't know much about what to use. I'm trying to see who @mineopoly is first and what I need to say through him. I want to learn about blogging and how to make this message easy to read. I am open to any advice and will take criticism well. Better coming from you than some grumpy user down the line.
I really enjoyed that article. I can tell already how nice it feels to read something on the philosophical side, rather than pouring through tech books. But besides the post, your comment here rings consistent with the reply you left on my intro. Finding our voices again after the parenting demands of those initial years lessens a bit is as valuable as STEEM
@dalegraunke. I enjoyed reading your introduction post and can relate well. I'm honored to see your comment here. I'm glad you stopped by here. Thanks a lot for understanding. You are a step ahead of me. I'm at a paradoxical stage of life. For the past ten years it has been family and church but as I blog and meet people here I have discovered some oppressed parts of myself I hid away poetry, art and music. Steemit helps in technical points with a lot of programmers and crypto investors but more than that I am finding that teenage kid inside me again. You are totally right. I am finding my voice and earning Steem at the same time. Great deal.
Yeah, i realized u do use bold and italics already.. sorry.. but glad u get what im saying.. 😉
I'm trying my best with Markdown. I pick up shortcuts here and there. Thank you so much for your support. I have a lot to learn from you yet.
@mineopoly It's hard to explain Steemit and the community...mostly my friends on fb post pics of their children, grandchildren and vacations. Nothing wrong with that - but they probably wouldn't think my posts about gardening, butterflies, crocheting, flowers and whatever else I blog about was very interesting. I've met people from all of the world and learned many interesting things and had positive interactions about what they are blogging about. Anyway I've seen how Steemit has really helped a lot of people come alive creatively. Have a great day!
Thank you for your clear and encouraging word @violetmed. I learned 2 things from your comment.
Steemit is like a garden. As we are taking care of it we cannot see the growth. But as roots grow strong and weeds are taken out we find a very fruitful garden plant.
Yes... I had a hard time with what I should be doing on this platform. This has caused me time of silence and self reflection. In real life this happened when I was around 40 but on Steemit this caught me right around 50 rep. Finally I am beginning to learn to post what I like and post well. And yes, people who don't get Steemit today will regret they passed this opportunity.
@mineopoly, just blog about what you want, upvote other good quality posts, make new friends, be a positive/loving presence in the world, earn some steem and SBD! :)
Got it @violetmed. I get a little stressed about things sometimes.
I also was in my teenage years when this Paul Simon song came about, I think darkness back in that day was more a measurement of a lack of ambient light. Darkness has taken on a totally different meaning now in my opinion. Television and movies are a driver of this new darkness or madness in some cases.
While lacking knowledge of crypto and such might be considered darkness as you have indicated, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Thank you for reminding us of those days. I really appreciate your comment. I was just a wee lad listening to music from my dad's record player. I know that when the song says, "the words of the prophets is written on the subway walls" he is not talking about crypto currency. There is a greater darkness beyond all this. It is about the centralized internet and banking system. I would like to say more directly but I used the anecdote of cryptocurrency as my own allegory. If you see the previous post I made you could better understand what I'm talking about:
https://steemit.com/poetry/@mineopoly/stop
And
https://steemit.com/money/@moderndayhippie/another-reason-banks-suck
I totally agree about television and media driving us down. That is why I support D-media. That's what this is all about.
I'll take a look thanks for the links, with so many new folks joining at thesteemengine it is sometimes difficult to get up to speed on how people write, I know that it takes people a while to learn how my mind puts words on the paper. I'll take a look at the other posts as well, I appreciate you including them in your reply.
Thank you. Take you time @sultnpapper. I appreciate your insight any time. I haveen following thesteemengine for a few weeks but this is the first time I promoted a post there. Of course I feel like I am riding the peace train.
It is the peace train, everyone I've run across is here for the right reasons, which is to help each other develop and grow their skills in writing.
I really like what you did here - followed you from Qurator postpromotion.
We really do need to seclude ourselves in the cave of our inner darkness sometimes, retreating like a turtle, in order to come out and truly create what is in the depths of us. Hey, if you like art then maybe you'll like my poetry too, here's a link - https://steemit.com/writingimpact/@lonestarpoet/the-echoes-of-mothers-epiphany-writingimpact
Thank you for your comment @lonestarpoet. Your steemit name has a clear identity. I'm still searching for mine. You got it exactly right. We hear the sounds of silence and then we can move into the light. You are right. I like poetry but haven't taken off yet. I will come by and check out your blog.
Hah well I was graced with this nickname by the fellow who taught me how to milk cows :P
Milk cows by hand? Great nickname ^-^
that sounds more like a native american name haha
Hahaha. Me milk cow!!
When there is Silence you can hear Clearer.
That is exactly right. My life has been really noisy. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment.
Deep, and SO very well exposed. The last sentence will stay with me for a long time...
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks @flashfiction. Nice to meet you through story sharing. I just didn't expect your story to be so short.
Hearing the words the sound of silence makes me also think of the words. "Be still..." Very nice post.
I absolutely love this!! They are my favorite band since I was a kid and digging through my step dad's records. thank you so much for sharing this. There was a lot here in your post that I wasn't aware of.
@phedizzle. Thanks for your comment. I'm really glad you like it. I was surrounded by this music growing up and it sticks in my head for ages. Today I thought about why. The interesting thing here is the more time I take to pause and rest from noise and media the more I can catch on what I am really doing here.
i used to dj professionally, then i moved on to being a recording engineer. listening to sound, closely and intensely, was my bread and butter for over a decade. then a life changing transformation happened. not one i wanted, either. and suddenly i couldn't listen to anything anymore. i needed silence as much as i could get it. just quiet. stillness. it was peaceful. it still is. but i can hear a little better now.
Thank you for sharing. I'm glad you can read text and communicate. I'm not sure if you are talking about physical hearing our not but true. Silence brings us to hear what really is out there.
Loved the inclusion and discussion on the Cave allegory from Plato. Just as it explained things about his own time well, so does it fit into modern culture. People resist change, it seems.
As for silence, I do tend to enjoy it. It can lead somewhere deep, if tuned into properly, and allowed to communicate its own truths.
I enjoyed reading through your article, thank you.
Thanks for reading. i was really beginning to wonder if Stemians can read. Now I'm glad there are real Steamians that can read and think. This is a wonderful community. I'm so glad to have met you.
For me silence and darkness go well together. I myself have a long way to go in listening. I was so busy trying to see what the price of Steem is and what the price of SBD is. But there is a whole world that never even heard of Steem and still spell it like Steam.
As long as people like you are on board I will continue to mine deeper into the heart.
I'm not sure what happened, but my vote hadn't registered on this post. I just fixed that. Apologies for saying I had 'voted and commented' when it appeared that wasn't the case. Just wanted to make sure to explain - sometimes (at least for me) my vote seems to just spin, and doesn't register. Anyway, fixed now, and finally I can show my appreciation for this post with an actual vote.
No problem. You are a noble Steemian and writer. Just your presence in the comments moves my heart. Enjoy every moment of this precious life. You have been a great encouragement to me.
Short attention spans can be the ruin of a dedicated writer. Fortunately there are still some of us around who enjoy reading. I'm trying to find more, so stick with me and we'll see how we go.
I keep one eye on the price of Steem sometimes. Not as often as I used to. But I get it. At least we understand the difference between Steem and steam. Hopefully over time so too will so many others. This place has grown significantly, so I hold more hope for its future now than I used to.
Thanks for the great reply.
whoot get's me thinking!!!
I'm glad I can stimulate something interesting. I know al of us go through times of darkness and silence. But as for me I can't stay there.