12/22/2023 0 Comments Jubler hall pittsfield massachusettsI discover East Indian philosophy, and I pick up meditation for the first time. I like to examine various religions to me they’re all different versions of essentially the same story. I need to find a way to exist in this environment but, at the same time, not get so mentally bankrupt by it. But I realize I am just replacing noise with noise. HALL: During the early years of my incarceration, I put on headphones to cover the constant noise of prison with music. Can you imagine being here with Jule here in this cell? Such a small space – yet connected. It’s also a sign to me that quiet is coming as people start to fall asleep. The sounds of keys roll on for about two or three minutes, 80 to 100 cells. The noise at night when everyone is returning to their bunks, the cell blocks piled on top of one another the shuffling, the footsteps, above and below me as my fellow inmates return from recreation or school or chow the cascade of everyone locking their cells at the same time, like dominoes. You can never really escape it.īut there are some noises I begin to like, even look forward to. There’s always an echoing, the sound of people moving. You can hear people yelling back and forth to one another between the floors. One thing I wasn’t prepared for was just how noisy prison is. Once that sound occurs, there is this sense of, “Okay, I can step out of this confined space, this small space, and go to a more open, confined space where there is sunlight and air.” Each one is a trigger, each notification peaks my anxiety.Ī bell tolls that lets me know we are being escorted from our cells out into the open air. No matter how many times I hear them I don’t get used to them. An eccentric bell means it’s time for chow. A roaring gong tells you to wake up – time for the officer to make his or her rounds. In prison, different bells signal different times of the day. This bell tells me that the officers are making their rounds. It’s hard to keep track of time, but I’ve learned the bell usually tolls around 6 am. HALL: The first noise I hear, at the start of daybreak, is the wake-up bell. From WaitWhat and Thrive Global, this is Meditative Story. In this series, we blend immersive, first-person stories with mindfulness prompts to help slow your life down, just a bit. In today’s Meditative Story, Jule Hall recounts the moment he holds an iPhone in his hands, and with beginner’s eyes sees the profound effects of this technology in our lives in ways we instinctively know to be true, but perhaps can no longer see ourselves. ROHAN GUNATILLAKE: Jail has a way of warping time and space, with many changes on the outside world locked away from those inside. It’s a meditative space for me-a place where I know I’m safe. I find myself sitting on the pew, the soothing smell of wood surrounds me, feeling relaxed maybe even dozing off. The chaplain preaches and prison inmates sing the hymns. It’s not a space that is completely quiet. But nonetheless, the smell of wood in this space calms me. There are no statues like a traditional church or stained glass windows. There are 10 rows of pews that maybe only sit four people. JULE HALL: One of the first facilities I’m in-Coxsackie Correctional Facility-has a small chapel.
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