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jo saia's avatar

This all resonates deeply with me. I look forward to reading Ouseph's book! And I thank you again, Susan, for your immeasurable contribution to this....to finally hear and see the strength, beauty, and value of quietness. to finally have that acknowledged amidst all the noise and distraction, to have this community who speak the eloquent language of quiet silence.....such a gift.

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Mark's avatar

This was absolutely fascinating. I love this post, and I too look forward to reading Ouseph’s book (bought before I finished reading the post!). I love Ouseph’s idea that “nurturing refined, gentle, and thoughtful persons, may have played an important role in the extraordinary longevity of the ancient Egyptian civilization”. This is a fascinating notion. And if I try to apply it to the present, I certainly see that many of the people that I admire the most are those who don’t feel the need to speak for the sake of speaking, and their sparse words are very thoughtful. These are also the people I tend to be most drawn to in social settings as well. Because their words or more intentional they also tend to be more interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. I believe that perhaps the people in our time with the characteristics described by Ouseph DO play a greater role, or even an outsized one, in our own “civilization” than we realize, we just don’t SEE them every day through the “noise and because our value system does not emphasize their importance in nearly the same way.

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