It is significant that the Latin word "templum" originally meant a vast space, open on all sides, from which one could survey the whole surrounding landscape as far as the horizon. This is what is meant to CONTEMPLATE: to "set one's sights on" Heaven from the temple that defines the field of vision... The temple is the place, the organ of vision.
I sit for a long time in the absolute silence. All at once, there is barely a perceptible noise, a soft rumble as of thunder. The sound dies without discovery of its nature or source. It returns, seeming to come from all directions at once. At last it emerges from its mystery, grows into a tremulous hum, and solidifies into chanting. The music has no tempo. There is no breathing audible in it. No one voice stands out; it is the fusion of all that produces the effect. Long held notes which at last modulate again and again in the calm rhythm of the heart. I am suspended in the sound. And charged. ... The chanting dies away as gently as it began. Once again there is the unanimous voice of silence.
~ "Taking the World In For Repairs" by Richard Selzer
