Music is composed of more than just sound. Rather, it’s the skillful combination of both sound and silence. Because although it’s easily overlooked, silence is fundamental to music.
Try imagining music with absolutely no silence whatsoever. There would be no beat, no rhythm. Just never-ending noise. For instance, think of the prolonged beep that plays right before the “This is a test of the emergency broadcast network” messages. It’s not very beautiful, it’s not very interesting, and can quickly get annoying. Yes, it’s a sound, but would hardly classify as music.
The same thing is true of our lives. As humans, we have the capacity to work and to rest.
More that just our job, work encompasses all the things we create and produce and feel the need to do. And rest is more than just getting adequate sleep, but taking a break from all the things we have to produce or accomplish—learning to press pause on all our ‘doing’ and to take time simply to ‘be.’ Both of these aspects are fundamental to our lives, and without them playing together in harmony, we end up missing out on the fullness of what it means to be human.
To work all the time and fail to rest is like trying to make music without any silence. Yes, sound is produced. But it’s missing the fullness and beauty that we all long to hear.