In the Catholic Peace Weekly, a columnist introduces the readers to the mystery of sound and sight with which we are surrounded daily. No space is silent but filled with all kinds of sound and light that we can't perceive but none the less present.
Bats and dolphins hear sounds at higher frequencies than humans. With ultrasound, they look for food and communicate with their kind and at great distances. Dolphins can send signal thousands of kilometers: highly efficient mobile phones.
Two dolphins that were in Seoul were freed in their home waters of Jejudo recently. When the period of acclimation is over next month they will be released into the wide open ocean. It is very likely they have already sent their signals to the other dolphins in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
We only hear the sounds that our ears allow. When the frequency is either too high or too low we don't hear the sound. There is no such thing as a silent room. A radio is able to pick up sound in a room, the radio waves are changed into sound waves enabling us to hear beautiful music. The sounds of nature are always surrounding us.
Sight and hearing are basically the same: fast waves are light and slow waves are sound said very simply but with truth. We are surrounded by all kinds of wavelengths and as humans perceive a small part.
Out of our vision range, we are blind. Insects are able to search for food with their infrared rays.
We all see the world differently. We see as if we were limited to one octave of music in the hearing realm. Science with the use of infrared light telescopes are able to detect celestial bodies that were not seen with the ordinary telescopes.
We can believe that what we hear and see is all that there is but that is a serious mistake. The universe is much more mysterious. That should humble us and make us think. What we believe is empty is filled with all kinds of beauty and truth. God's silence we can never escape.
