Aesthetics of Silence
by Kimberly Vrudny, Senior Editor of ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies
Last summer, when this issue of ARTS, which is devoted to the theme of “the aesthetics of silence,” was still in the planning stages, things on the political scene seemed relatively stable. Barack Obama was still the president, and Hillary Clinton seemed his likely successor. Some of the articles for this issue were in hand before the election, and while there are always political issues that call for resistance (drone strikes, treatment of political prisoners, police brutality, access to guns, and so on), a mass resistance movement of the kind that has arisen since January 20th was inconceivable. But, indeed, there was an election, mass resistance is being staged, and we are nonetheless, and perhaps seemingly out of step with the times, publishing an issue on the aesthetics of silence. It becomes all the more necessary, therefore, to situate the theme properly, lest anyone understand that ARTS is advocating for silence in the political realm. The reality is quite the contrary.
Sometimes, the editors of ARTS will discuss potential themes for issues and when a theme is decided, we will put out a call for papers or we will solicit articles from authors well known for their work around the theme we have chosen. At other times, themes emerge from articles that are being submitted to the editors for publication consideration. Devoting an issue to “the aesthetics of silence” emerged in the latter way; a number of articles were coming in, all addressing silence, and all of them treating the theme in distinct and compelling ways. It seemed as though we had put our fingers on the pulse of something in our culture, and so we responded accordingly. We proceeded to plan an issue devoted entirely to the aesthetics of silence.
Then the election happened. Despite the mood of much of the country, we decided cautiously to proceed with the issue, not as an invitation to be silent in the midst of the kinds of political posturing we are now witnessing, but as a means to center ourselves in the midst of all the noise that threatens to distract us from the important work before us—protecting immigrants, being champions for the free press, and advocating for peace through non-violent means, among a myriad of other concerns.
Thomas Merton, the Trappist mystic, wrote of the relationship between activism and the contemplative life in his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (1968).
Last summer, when this issue of ARTS, which is devoted to the theme of “the aesthetics of silence,” was still in the planning stages, things on the political scene seemed relatively stable. Barack Obama was still the president, and Hillary Clinton seemed his likely successor. Some of the articles for this issue were in hand before the election, and while there are always political issues that call for resistance (drone strikes, treatment of political prisoners, police brutality, access to guns, and so on), a mass resistance movement of the kind that has arisen since January 20th was inconceivable. But, indeed, there was an election, mass resistance is being staged, and we are nonetheless, and perhaps seemingly out of step with the times, publishing an issue on the aesthetics of silence. It becomes all the more necessary, therefore, to situate the theme properly, lest anyone understand that ARTS is advocating for silence in the political realm. The reality is quite the contrary.
Sometimes, the editors of ARTS will discuss potential themes for issues and when a theme is decided, we will put out a call for papers or we will solicit articles from authors well known for their work around the theme we have chosen. At other times, themes emerge from articles that are being submitted to the editors for publication consideration. Devoting an issue to “the aesthetics of silence” emerged in the latter way; a number of articles were coming in, all addressing silence, and all of them treating the theme in distinct and compelling ways. It seemed as though we had put our fingers on the pulse of something in our culture, and so we responded accordingly. We proceeded to plan an issue devoted entirely to the aesthetics of silence.
Then the election happened. Despite the mood of much of the country, we decided cautiously to proceed with the issue, not as an invitation to be silent in the midst of the kinds of political posturing we are now witnessing, but as a means to center ourselves in the midst of all the noise that threatens to distract us from the important work before us—protecting immigrants, being champions for the free press, and advocating for peace through non-violent means, among a myriad of other concerns.
Thomas Merton, the Trappist mystic, wrote of the relationship between activism and the contemplative life in his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (1968).
[T]here is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of activists neutralizes their work for peace. It destroys their own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fullness of their own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.
In the spirit then of the search for the inner wisdom about which Thomas Merton writes, and in which activism is nurtured, we present this issue. The portfolio features the work of Y.Z. Kami, an Iranian artist whose “Endless Prayers” series presents a kind of visual silence that opens the mind to the presence of God. Mark Burrows curates six poems that all speak in some way to the beauty of silence. Michael Hebbeler, of the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, describes how art informs a seminar he teaches in discernment. Artist and art critic Jonathan A. Anderson writes of musician and composer John Cage, and especially his composition 4’33”, three movements of specified durations of musical rest. Brian Kirby reflects on the importance of silence for the Taizé community in France. Theologian Mark DelCogliano writes about his experience of silence when he lived for a time as a Trappist monk. Colleen Carpenter connects the themes of silencing and justice in her essay on the pink crosses that mark the feminicide that is happening in the midst of the drug war in Mexico. Biblical scholar David Penchansky offers a review of the film Silence. John Shorb’s interview with Hratch Arbach, Jennifer Awes-Freeman’s review of the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s exhibit about Martin Luther to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and Mark McInroy’s book notes round out the issue.
