There is something strange about driving a car in silence (see yesterday’s post). Did I say ‘silence’? What I mean to say is driving in silence alongside of a frothy 4.0 liter V6 Jeep Cherokee engine in full-tilt-boogie just 2.5 feet away. Hooah!
What is silence anyways? I don’t think that I have experienced a period of true silence in years. There always seems to be the sound of some manmade machine within earshot. Always! Be it a car, a plane over head, the Air Conditioning system, or even a wristwatch. The ‘made’ world is utterly unavoidable. Therefore, I suppose that I should clarify things a bit. For the purposes of this post, silence means: No sound other than the frothy 4.0 liter V6 Jeep Cherokee engine in full-tilt-boogie just 2.5 feet away.
Anyways, as I drive in silence, the most remarkable thing happens to me: I have complete thoughts. At first, this may seem like a very simple thing but I feel that it is also profound. Every time that I listen to a radio show or music (or TV), my mind is guided in specific directions and then suddenly interrupted, only to be guided into other directions. All of my thoughts become reactions to the mood or lyrics of particular songs and focus on the catchy commercials that tell me, not less than 3 times, that I can not live without a certified pre-owned Trabant or that Fast-Food-Joint X’s cheeseburgers taste good because their cows are ‘happier’. Pre-owned Trabants? Happier cows? Somebody out there has a very dim view of the average consumer. Why do we willingly subject ourselves to this kind of commercialist madness? I find that I am not my own master when the radio is on. This is why I have decided to take up an additional ‘religious’ practice. Instead of a Zen Buddhist or Transcendentalist, I have become a Trans-Highway Contemplateist.
Operating a sport utility vehicle for 2 hours a day in pure uninterrupted silence, is by no means a form of meditation but it is the best thing that I have. Don’t be fooled, Trans-Highway Contemplation is not for the faint of heart! It’s major tenants are no radio, no fast food, and yes, no cell phone. The major deity is the immaculate gleaming Green-Light of lead footed joy and it’s great nemesis are the utterly unholy Red-Light of malice and its wicked cousin the always lurking Double Yellow Line of vehicular passing hindrance.
I suppose that the other major American religion is that of Water Closet Fundamentalist (WCF), as the water closet is the only other possible location of uninterrupted thought in our great fee nation. I once practiced WCF in earnest. However, being a father has caused me to neglect some of those time honored WC fundamentals. I will write more on WCF another time. Until then: Have a happy Trans-Highway Contemplation day.