THE SOUND OF SILENCE
Reader's Digest UK|October 2023
HOW SIMPLY SHUTTING UP FOR THREE MONTHS AND WALKING WELL OVER 600 MILES TRANSFORMED MY LIFE
DG Marshall
THE SOUND OF SILENCE

AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, my mouth has been getting me into trouble. Growing up, I would say anything to get a laugh, no matter how crude or cutting. I used the gift of the gab to get what I wanted from my parents (money, a later curfew) and to get out of what I didn't want (chores, groundings). I was asked to leave four different schools, mostly because I talked too much, and every one of my report cards said some variation of the same thing: I'd do much better if I would just shut up.

My mouth may have served me terribly as a student, but it set me up perfectly for a career in radio. In 2003, I launched a talk show on an AM station in the Toronto area. I would ask people about their religious beliefs and the role faith played in their lives.

In my 16 years hosting the show, I interviewed rabbis, nuns, witches, Wiccans and Satanist high priests, and had celebrities, politicians, religious leaders and spiritual gurus share the "why" behind their beliefs.

I think the show succeeded because it engaged people who don't usually listen to religious radio-people like me. After growing up in a churchgoing household and eventually becoming a pastor, I slowly began to reject organised religion. Still, I was fascinated by others' beliefs.

Consumed by the need to understand the unknown, I travelled the world in search of answers.

I prayed among ancient petroglyphs in Australia, slept at Stonehenge in England and wept at the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. I thought I'd find some divine truth if I visited all the sacred sites and interviewed every spiritual leader.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2023 من Reader's Digest UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2023 من Reader's Digest UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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