The whole world over people are heading toward the big cities with their many-colored lives that challenge the senses and release the imagination. A big city is unqui-et. People observe each other, compare themselves to each other and work to improve their lives. This is not a quiet processr. Even when the muscles are not tired out, the mind is full and perhaps even satiated with impres-sions.The streets become echo chambers of traffic noise, the work place is buzzing with words and the sound of machines, the home is vibrating with music and televi-sion and perhaps even noise from next door, the shops are full of muzak and people in motion – everywhere sounds and commercial messages stream toward us in a struggle for two most precious resources: time and attention. The media contribute to the noise and amplify it by telling about it.An inner disquiet is added to the external unrest when the desire for more things, more experiences, more luxury and more partying become endless. Even rich people are never rich enough. We become indebted to each other and must work to pay the debt. We fear the loss of property and career, become afraid of strangers and worry about disease and death until a big hand of worry is laid like a chain around the heart. Unrest is not merely external, it has entered the soul.

From all sides, we are told that we can become richer, healthier, wiser, funnier. Pressure becomes stressfulness as tasks and duties accumulate. And when we are accustomed to being busy, silence becomes frightening and loneliness becomes a means to punish criminals with.

At the centre of the noise and bustle may arise a longing for time to find coherence and openness, so that unrest does not become a permanent restlessness which eats up the soul. But the longing is met by a receding horizon, so peace and quiet become a Shangri-La with no connection to everyday reality. When the hunt is more important than the game, stillness becomes death and paradise becomes boredom. But peace and quiet can be found in narrow breathing spaces that follow after stressfulness and prepare us for more stressfulness.

II

In nature but also in big rooms we are confronted with our own insignificance. Things are observed from a distance; a coherence is glimpsed and an opening appears. The hectic rush of modern life stops for a while. A breathing space can be filled with the sweetness of having nothing to do but being and sensing and opening up. The pressure is alleviated so that thoughts and feelings can register and make their presence felt.

Breathing spaces are everywhere. Amid everyday life, you can close your eyes and block out the noise. In the woods, at home, in meditation which shuts out the world or in a secluded attic where specks of dust are dancing in the sharp sun-rays, here we can encounter peace and quiet. They do not make the noise of the city go away but they put it in perspective and keep it at a distance.

There are private breathing spaces that anyone can seek out and use according to taste. But a breathing space can also be a public place which gives a visible shape to the longing for peace and quiet.

III

A public breathing space is a place where we can worship our god, no matter what the god is called, no matter if the god is to be found in heaven or on earth and no matter which party or faith we subscribe to. It is no mere pantheon, a room for all gods, but even more than that a room for all people, a pananthopon. Among ourselves and in the company of others, we can distance ourselves from ourselves.

Time can be cruel when it is filled with so many tasks that we do not have time to savour the reward for our toils. It can be hard when we are pressed hard for time and take pride in our full calendars. And it can be, if not good, then at least better, when in the middle of the bustle there are breathing spaces which offer meaning and an opening. With time unbound comes a dash of joy.

There is a difference between the private silence of the home and the public silence in the company of others. A breathing space can be a house that by its greatness makes us small and by its beauty makes us melt. In the middle of the bustle we know the house is there and can be visited. Even if we never go there, the house is a public message affirming that peace and quiet is more than a private fantasy.

To build a house for peace and quiet will not create peace and quiet but contribute to their being. With a distinctive shape, it can become a global symbol of something which connects instead of separates – an image that is recognized the world over and can set free the many connotations that are inherent in the word peace. The house can be a meeting place for all who come with the same longing, no matter which name they call it by. It will be a challenge to all – are we capable of enjoying the peace and quiet and inviting them into our everyday lives?

Above the city the sky is wide and full of clouds as light as steam. They absorb the noise and the very sight of them can be a balm to the soul. Clouds are the portals of heaven when they pull across the sky like billowing pieces of cotton or glowing fingers of light.

The soul is lifted and its gates are opened so that it can find coherence, also known as meaning, and openness, also known as creativity. No battle is imminent, no shame burdens, no commercial beckons, no urgent voice is calling. A house of peace can be a hinge between earth and heaven. It does not bring heaven down on earth but is a reminder that there is a heaven.