Music and Silence: The Gifts of Heaven
In his beloved book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis details the correspondence of two demons as they attempt to corrupt a young man’s soul. Screwtape, a deviously experienced tempter, advises his nephew, Wormwood, in the numerous “arts” of turning someone away from the Christian faith. As he and his nephew fail to corrupt their target’s soul, Screwtape advocates for the use of one of Hell’s greatest inventions: noise. Noise is the “audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile” (Lewis 120). It is anything that blocks out the holy signals of the Lord. When noise interferes with God’s instructions, we as Christians become like ships with no compasses, bound to go off course. It is then when we are the most vulnerable to attack. Onslaughts of temptation, fear, rage, and despair are far harder to counter when we forget that God is our destination. Noise thus has a twofold purpose; it obscures what is good, and it stimulates chaos. In England during World War II, the place in which The Screwtape Letters was set, the din of Hell might have sounded like air raid sirens piercing the night or panicked radio stations spouting off ill omens or children wailing to their worried parents or families arguing over food. The pandemonium was prominent, constant, and overwhelming.
Nowadays, even though the cacophony of suffering and war is still heard throughout the world, Hell’s noise often takes on a subtler bent. Modern noise is akin to an underlying static that gradually undermines our faith. It masquerades as a welcome release from boredom, as a distraction from the hardships of life. The new platforms of noise are commonly seen in the echo chambers of social media or the addictive catalogs of online entertainment. Noise realigns our desires from what is good to what is convenient.
Whether loud or soft, noise inhibits both our communications with God and our enjoyment of His creation. Fortunately, heaven does not abandon us in our struggles against Hell’s racket. Lewis writes that God grants us two blessings: the gifts of music and silence (119).
First, a discussion of music. One need only skim through the Psalms to understand the value of music in God’s creation. They speak extensively of lutes, trumpets, lyres, and cymbals, of the concord of voices in the heavenly courts (Psalms 150). They exhort us to lift up our voices in song. Music is the 7 joyous sound of worship, the resonance of God’s glory being reflected back at Him. J.R.R. Tolkien expanded upon this idea when he penned the opening of The Silmarillion, the creation myth for his beloved world of hobbits and elves. The beginning of Middle Earth was fashioned out of notes and chords such that “sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony that passed beyond hearing into the depths and into the heights…The music went out into the Void, and it was not void” (Tolkien 3-4).
God’s thoughts, plans, and ideas as the architect of the universe are expressed in all of their glory via song. This idea of creation as music is echoed in the Bible as well. Jesus states that even the rocks will cry out in praise if we do not give to God what he is owed (Luke 19:40). Like tones arranged to form a chord, the world was designed to operate according to God’s divine order.
Yet it is worth mentioning that music is not just limited to matters of melody, tempo, and rhythm. Any act of virtue that aligns oneself with God’s heavenly purposes is included in music’s scope. Therefore, music also includes good deeds like acts of service, kind words, and inspired creativity. It is the active expectation of belonging to creation. Music is the singing of good songs, the doing of good 8 deeds, the creating of good things. In completing these excellent acts we weave our own motifs into God’s holy symphony.
Yet even the strongest voices grow hoarse, and the nimblest fingers grow stiff. Even if our bodies did not grow weary, constant activity gives us no time for contemplation, no time for admiring what we have made. Therefore, heaven grants us another gift—silence. It might be hard to imagine what place silence, the absence of music, has in God’s designs. Yet if we were not meant to rest, why would God, the maker of the universe, take the Sabbath to admire the goodness he had made (Genesis 2:2-3)?
Silence allows us to step back from our labors, good though they may be, and renew our bodies and minds. It is the contemplative enjoyment of creation that comes after a job well done. Just as music has order, so too does silence. Any good piece of music is defined by its pauses just as much as it is by its notes.
It is worth noting, however, that silence is not mere idleness, the devil’s mockery of rest. Idleness is steeped in noise and disorder, leaving a feeling of emptiness in its wake. Instead, silence is the joy of a good night’s sleep, the delight of an early-morning walk, or the calmness of a prayer vigil.
These gifts that God has given us, music and silence, cannot exist without each other. Music without silence leads to exhaustion. Silence without music leads to idleness. They both are expressions of order, expressions that keep chaos and evil at bay. Combined and properly utilized, music and silence are able to overcome even the loudest of Hell’s noise.
