Proscription’s honor makes silence the ultimate acoustic power

Evidence

There is a deep-bonded relationship between noise abatement and taboo which cannot be abandoned, for the moment we place a sound effectively on the proscription list we do it the ultimate honor of making it all-powerful. It is for this reason that the petty proscriptions of the community by-law will never succeed, indeed must never succeed. The final power then is—silence, just as the power of the gods is in their invisibility. This is the secret of the mystics and the monks; and it will form the final meditation of any proper study of sound. — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 665

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the reader’s whole book theme that silence is a positive, sacred presence. — connects to: The most valued sound can be the silence preceding a sound — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 37; Sacred Noise is authority to make sound without censure — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 264; The most valued sound is the silence anticipating a sound, the space between notes (+1 more)
• SEED: Essay conclusion: why silencing a sound consecrates it, and why silence outranks all noise.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 665

Broader Connections

• The most valued sound is the silence anticipating a sound, the space between notes #corroborates (0.90)
• The most valued sound can be the silence preceding a sound #corroborates (0.85) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 37
• Sacred Noise is authority to make sound without censure #qualifies (0.40) — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 264