I offer a koan for winter – obviously a variation on a classic:
What is the sound of snow falling?
I came up with this last night, with the thought of listening to the sound of the snow while going to sleep. But this morning it occurred that there may be something to it. If you try it when you’re in a quiet and fresh frame of mind (morning is good, but anytime), actually listening for the sound of snow switches on a different, more refined mode of hearing in which we become aware of subtle ambient sound – and thereby are brought out of our heads and into the present moment. Kind of like John Cage’s 4’33” – but with the prompt of an element of nature which happens to be rather quiet. It’s easy to listen to the sound of rain, or wind, or birds, or a crackling fire; why not snow? Maybe this is what people are doing when they go outside to experience the snow falling – listening to it fall as much as watching it; a really delicate and beautiful sound.
Besides being very calming and grounding, such a practice also has the virtue of celebrating winter in places where we get significant amounts of the stuff; we may as well enjoy and embrace its qualities of crispness and freshness, no? Then again, I also enjoy shoveling snow, for the same reason (up to a point) – who’s with me on this?
