We live in a noisy world.
It’s estimated that we hear 5,000 commercial messages every single day. And the average smart phone use among adults is up to 3 1/2 hours a day.
How can a person thrive with that much noise?
This multimedia talk is about how we might recover the value of silence in the 21st century. How it could contribute to the health and flourishing of our lives.
We’ll hear from Bach and Get Out, Lizz Wright and Annie Dillard, the Book of Job and the diary of Anne Frank, Simon & Garfunkel as well as Eliot and Yeats and Wendell Berry.
Along the way, you’ll discover the seven uses of silence. And you’ll enjoy some space to personalize each one, to make the sound of your own life more whole.
Will Gray believes that every person is made unique, and that we’re the happiest, most helpful, and most successful when we discover and live out who we’re made to be. He founded ALIGN, an agency that helps companies unlock their growth and flourish. He also runs Vocationality, which helps people discover their gifts and navigate their career. He holds a PhD in Literature from the University of St Andrews. The Uses of Silence was first given as a talk in 2009.