Klamath Writers' Guild

It is utterly amazing how much noise the media brings into our lives, but so little is of any practical use. Radio announcers feel that silence is dead silence. That silent time could be spent better by filling it with some paid advertisement. It is so bad that I seldom listen to radio any more because I know what is coming. Furthermore, I watch very few shows on television. The same with newspapers, except my love for the comics and the crossword puzzles. The media is a wonderful medium of idea exchange, if its message has any meaning to the recipient.

All of us need to have quiet times in our lives. A constant go-go-go in society kills the soul. Psalms (46:10) tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” I have to agree. I love the stillness of morning. It is so peaceful and has not become polluted with social noise. For me, it is the very best time of the day. It is the time that I compose these articles. However, as soon as the rest of the household arises, this great feeling is gone. Yet, I know how irritating we become when we have too much stillness in our lives. We call that loneliness.

I believe the great thinkers of history made valuable use of their still time. It was in these quiet moments that the Great Spirit communed with them. John Phillip Sousa, the great composer of music, claimed that while crossing the Atlantic, he stood on the deck in the early morning and heard music coming across the waves. Fearing that he would lose the melody, he rushed back to his stateroom and copied it down. I believe the song he heard is the beginning of ‘El Capitan.’

I believe that much of my father’s writings came to him in similar ways. In the book that I just published, “Fred L. Ashworth: Burbank of the North,” I included an early letter to his brother. He told in the letter about his belief that a star whipped through our solar system, tearing away most of Mars and much of the Earth. That was the calamity that caused the Pacific Ocean to be surrounded by such interesting rock formations. However later he developed his current theory outlined in the book. Great ideas have to come to us in some way from the Great Spirit, but people who are willing to think them through must spark them.

Dad spent much of his life on the farm. He worked alone much of the time, giving him time to think through his ideas. I also believe that Jesus learned much about Christianity while he was in the wilderness those forty days. Often, in the morning, I turn on my computer, sit, and stare at the blank screen. To start something, I write statements such as, “I do not have the foggiest idea of what I am going to write about.” Then, almost by magic, a thought will cross my mind and the basics of it come so fast I can hardly keep up with it. Now get this and let it be a lesson to all of us. That idea would have never come to life had I never started writing. It was like scratching a match and the action on my part put the idea into solid print. Similar inspiration comes to people who keep journals. Great ideas are all around us. They work with similar experiences we may have had.

For one, I believe those who supply our energy, such as the oil companies, instead of spending all their resources on digging deeper wells, they should look seriously to the hydrogen in sea water and the other benefits from the sea. I know electrolysis works, but presently it takes more energy to produce than we get out of the hydrogen. Most people dismiss the idea as being impractical. However, if we were to supply the energy for electrolysis by some other form of energy source that is completely unused presently, the process is bound to work. We know how to get electrical energy from sunlight (which we have plenty of) and ocean water (which we also have plenty of) and put them together to make electrolysis machines. Well, that is a thought, only because I was once a science teacher and had set up an electrolysis unit in the lab for the student to observe.

In other words, to take advantage of the still small voice that speaks to us, we must be receptive to receiving it.

 

Until later, cheers.