Out of the Silent Planet

As an audio addict of 20+ years — I use my mp3 player both to fall asleep at night and to stay engaged during runs — I expected something dramatic to happen during my Holy Week sound fast. Either I would go crazy from the mind-numbing torture of silence, or I would achieve some tremendous mystical experience that comes with turning off the noise and turning toward prayer.

Instead, something utterly unexpected happened: nothing.

I fell asleep as quickly as ever, and my runs were pretty much the same as always — neither excruciatingly dull nor vastly spiritually enriched. It was as though my mp3 player were merely a plastic box filled with metal chips that does nothing more than pump digitized sounds into my ears. Whodathunk?

On my runs, I tried to pray the rosary, and with mixed results. Although the actual praying and contemplation were worthwhile, I found myself distracted more often than not. Truth be told, for the most part I just replaced the noise of the mp3 player with the noise of my own thoughts. Not sure that was much of an improvement!

Meanwhile, I was doing some egosurfing the other day, and stumbled upon Jonoam’s Blog, which had some kind words to say about Running Catholic, and which includes an impassioned plea for runners to Pull Out the Ear Buds:

You have the road…you have whatever reason you’re running…you have the physical and mental challenge that all runners crave to overcome…you have the beauty of nature…if you need to have music in order to be able to “run”…it’s doubtful you’ve experienced a true run.

Having tried a week without the noise, it’s hard to argue with this reasoning. For me, it turns out, the audio really doesn’t add all that much to the running experience. I don’t need it to run, after all.

Jonoam also contends that going without sound is important for matters of safety (not really a factor in my case, as I mostly listen to talk with the sound down low, and can still hear external sounds) and winning prizes in races (something I will never need to worry about!).

So, the bottom line: I can live with or without the sound. Going forward, I think I’ll mix it up, and do some runs with audio, some without. My runs are really the only time in the week I can indulge my radio hobby, and I learn a lot from the various Catholic podcasts I listen to. But I also see the virtue in running for its own sake, in cultivating the discipline of silence, and in making more time for prayer.

In other words: Exercise moderation. Wow, whodathunk?

“There is an appointed time for everything,

and a time for every affair under the heavens.”

— Eccl. 3:1