pump it up or baroque an' gas?

'See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... we need silence in order to touch souls." Mother Theresa of Calcutta

in my late twenties i began to lose my hearing. i discovered this by developing a continual hissing / ringing in my ears. over the years i received unsuccessful ear surgeries to restore my hearing and embarked on many alternative medicine quests to cure the incessant ringing all to no avail. i now have an unusual combination of hearing loss with a sensitivity to sound frequencies that i still have the ability to hear.

most recently i received light therapy by an amazing doctor in germany, dr. wilden. as a result some of my hearing has been restored, however, he is adamant about the importance of not exposing one's hearing to excessive noise in our all too noisy world and recommends the regular use of ear plugs to maintain hearing health for all individuals. after-all, our ears have not evolved as fast as our technology - our inner organs are very sensitive and not meant to be receiving a bombardment of sound such as that from ipods / ear buds... especially at high volumes.

while stopping to re-fuel en-route between seattle and vancouver recently, i removed my earplugs to pump the gas - only to discover that the gas kiosk had LOUD rock'n music blaring through speakers...

i suppose in our fast paced culture the strategy behind the marketing at the gas station is to have one stop convenience and not lose step in the 'pump dance' - pump up the volume, pump up the car, pump up your body with 'fast food', pump up your nervous system with caffeine... and then onto the the highway to pump down on the gas pedal to arrive at our destination as quickly as possible?

i love the idea of quieting our all too busy environments by first becoming aware of how noisy our lives have become - taking time to detox from sound. i appreciate this website - http://www.quiet.org/index.htm.

one of the quietest places on earth is here in washington in the hoh river valley discovered by gordon hempton. the idea is that "if a loud noise such as the passing of an aircraft can impact many square miles, then a natural place, if maintained in a 100% noise-free condition, will also impact many square miles around it. it is predicted that protecting a single square inch of land from noise pollution will benefit large areas of the park."

my dance today was one of embodying the idea of perhaps starting a new trend - the 'relaxing gas depot,' the 'gas spa'... pump gas but turn down the volume and unwind... play classical music to soothe the soul... dance to stretch and open the body... chamomile tea for the stressful drive anyone???

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life." ~Ludwig van Beethoven

(beethoven began to lose his hearing when he was 28 and also had tinnitus (ringing in the ears) which he struggled with as he wrote in his diary ).

music: concerto for 2 oboes in f major

check out what they're doing about noise pollution in india here :~)

see my butoh mentor's beautiful blog here: maureen freehill