“To look at life without words is not to lose the ability to form words- to think, remember, and plan. To be silent is not to lose your tongue. On the contrary, it is only through silence that one can discover something new to talk about. One who talked incessantly, without stopping to look and listen, would repeat himself ad nauseam.
Alan Watts
It is the same with thinking, which is really silent talking. It is not, by itself, open to the discovery of anything new, for its only novelties are simply arrangements of old words and ideas.”
Greetings to you on this fine Sunday morning.
I love this quote from Alan Watts, particularly that he said not only this:
To be silent is not to lose your tongue. On the contrary, it is only through silence that one can discover something new to talk about
But, even more, that he then followed up with this:
It is the same with thinking, which is really silent talking. It is not, by itself, open to the discovery of anything new, for its only novelties are simply arrangements of old words and ideas
If we seek to learn, then, we must bring forth new thoughts from beyond our own minds, beyond our talking or even our thinking.
This may come from listening to others (and if are truly, deeply listening this creates space for the deepest learnings), reading, art, music, dance and more.
As this is published, I will be out on a bike ride with my riding buddy Sam (soon to be a guest on WhatComesNextLive on October 5th). This Sunday our context is to explore. We will ride for several hours around London, full of conversation, new streets and views, and (hopefully) trying out a new spot for our mandatory coffee and bacon rolls. I’m hoping to indeed discover new thoughts, ideas as well as experiences.