We choose to retreat from the bustle of the world to find our own "space." Here silence has a healing effect. Here solitude helps bring my fundamental sense of who I am into focus. In silence and solitude we find both the time and space to enjoy in tranquility, the timeless wonder of consciousness: the miracle of, say, a bank of wild garlic or a greater spotted woodpecker in flight. As Ronald Blythe observes, noise causes us to hear very little; silence makes us hear wonderful sounds.
— John Lane, The Spirit of Silence