Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying life:
Bright the hawk's flight
On the empty sky.
            - Ursula Le Guin, The Farthest Shore, with thanks to Nan Merrill, Friends of Silence

Wilderness should be sacred and quiet, just as the Indians felt in designating certain places as spirit lands where no one talked.  I have written about the Kawishiwi River country of "no place between," where the Indians always traveled quietly and spoke only in whispers. . .two of the greatest values of wilderness travel, solitude and silence.
- Sigurd Olson, Reflections From The North Country

I remember paddling in the Baja, through some perfectly smooth, jade green water. On the bottom were sea cucumbers, rock scallops, some beautiful sea weeds. Everybody started to go very slow. We had been paddling hard, but everybody slowed down and just started looking. After about fifteen minutes of quiet, we picked up our paddles and started paddling again. There was so much power in that silence, that the next day we did the whole day without talking. In silence there is a lot more access, I think, to the spirit, to spirituality, to the soul.
- Jennifer Hahn, author, sea kayak guide, (Heron Dance interview, issue 1)

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