One winter day something will shine out from an everyday object and the darkness will flood with light. Something we have seen a thousand times suddenly becomes the sentinel of another world.
~ from ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE by Marv and Nancy Hiles
Certain redwood groves are holy places for me because they capture silence and light. The forest is so dense as to exclude all external noise. It is possible to ignore their silence until a single bird sings within. When the single song has died not only do I realize I have heard a sound exquisite in its simplicity, but also that I have heard it so precisely because it was embedded in pure silence.