all profound things and emotion of
things are preceded and attended by
silence
hermann melville
in western cultures silence is commonly
used as a means to show respect and
recollect
one example prominent in dutch culture
is the silent march that grew out of the
silent catholic walks in amsterdam this
catholic tradition was a reaction to a
prohibition on their processions by the
protestant establishment a march in
silence without prayer singing religious
garments or attributes wasn't prohibited
and so a new ritual arose that survived
to this day
as for the silent marches often a
response to senseless violence people
react in a way that transcends the many
hollow words swirling around after a
tragic event and our culture of noise in
which violence so frequently occurs
similarly the annual remembrance of the
dead answers the killing and murdering
of all dutch victims of wars and
peacekeeping missions with two minutes
of silence
it's silence that makes these rituals so
powerful there's no music no words or
singing to distract oneself from the
purpose
moreover what better resistance to the
deafening noise of war and the loudness
of violent people engaging in mindless
bloodshed is there besides silent
and when words aren't sufficient isn't
silence the most appropriate response
the power of silence is versatile
silence can transcend speech speak
without words and complement where
verbal language is lacking and keeping
silent also has advantages in terms of
creativity mental health spiritual and
religious practice achieving the upper
hand in negotiations and even as a way
to intimidate
this video explores the power of silence
unfolding four benefits of being silent
1. the quieter you are the more you hear
the mystic and poet jalal al-din
mohammed rumi once realized that the
quieter we become the more we're able to
hear from his mystical point of view
listening is essential as roomie tried
to get closer to god and hear a
quote-unquote voice that doesn't use
words by being still when we let go of
all the words we open ourselves up to
other voices previously suppressed by
continual verbal noise
these could be inner voices as
philosopher ralph waldo emerson called
the inner knowing and outside voices and
sounds that one misses because of a lack
of listening we can listen effectively
if we keep quiet inside and outside
by keeping quiet we become receptive to
our surroundings we pay attention to
what our senses observe so we learn and
eventually become smarter and wiser
if we refuse to keep quiet nor listen to
what others have to say we only share
what we already know and don't learn
anything the ancient philosopher
pythagoras once stated a fool is known
by a speech and a wise man by silence
similarly lautzer wrote those who know
do not talk those who talk do not know
being quiet helps us learn about the
environment and recognize dangers and
opportunities that we would have skipped
if we were too busy talking but it also
allows us to gather information about
ourselves often people are so busy
overthinking worrying ruminating and
analyzing that they are shutting down
the underlying voices that are trying to
speak
for example we may forget to listen to
our intuitions or let our bodily pains
tell us about specific health issues or
we block ideas and solutions that are
already within us from coming to the
surface because our conscious minds
generate too much noise
keeping quiet can also lead to more
philosophical spiritual insights for
example generally people tend to
identify with their thoughts and thus
believe that we are what we think we are
and that the selves we have created in
our minds are in fact us in buddhism
thoughts are one of the five aggregates
fabrications of the mind we mistake for
being ourselves we are not our thoughts
according to the buddha and if we quiet
down and observe our thoughts we'll
discover that everything we think all
our ideas concepts identifications are
fleeting hence according to the buddha a
fixed self isn't really there but we
only discover the illusory nature of
thoughts if we keep quiet and observe
and recognize them for what they are
2. silent boosts creativity
the theoretical physicist albert
einstein argued that silence stimulates
the creative mind when he couldn't come
up with an idea he would just stop
thinking and swim in silence as he
called it and wait for the right
information to come to him therefore
like many other great minds einstein
spent a lot of time in solitude using
quietness to his advantage as he stated
and i quote the monotony and solitude of
a quiet life stimulate the creative mind
end quote
executive director of the neural
leadership institute david rock wrote an
article for psychology today stating
that quote unquote an open mind is a
quiet mind he researched the so-called
aha moments people have during which a
creative idea or solution arises by
itself these aha moments involve weaker
less noticeable connections between
neurons which are difficult to notice
when other louder signals dominate the
brain
i quote
thus we have insights when our overall
activity level in the brain is low this
happens when we're either doing
something that doesn't require a lot of
mental effort when we're focusing on
something repetitive or just generally
more relaxed like when we wake up
insights require a quiet mind because
they themselves are quiet
and quote
so it seems that we need to create the
right circumstances for our minds to
quiet down for some people this may be
going for a walk and repetitive forms of
exercise or listening to calming music
for others like einstein it might be
dwelling in silence and solitude many of
the great minds of the past like isaac
newton elizabeth bishop and nikola tesla
worked alone in quiet places
3. silence can send a powerful message
in many cases keeping quiet can send a
much stronger message than using speech
by responding to words with silence or
using rightly timed pauses during
conversations we're able to communicate
effectively without speaking or writing
the dutch silent rituals exemplify how
silence creates a strong message for
example during the remembrance of the
dead on the 4th of may the 2 minutes of
silence are always the most impactful
moment of the entire ceremony including
other rituals and speeches by different
people silence allows us to express what
discourse cannot the many words uttered
ideas shared and promises made never
fully encompass the human experience
however the power of silence as an
answer to tragedy is that we acknowledge
that no amount of words do justice to
what we seek to commemorate
it's so significant to us that we're
willing to stop talking and be silent
for a certain amount of time isn't there
a better way of showing respect
in conversation using silence can be
powerful as well american author mark
twain stated and i quote the right word
may be effective but no word was ever as
effective as a rightly timed pause
end quote academic research shows that
silence in a conversation starts to feel
unbearable after approximately four
seconds
author of the book cringeworthy a theory
of awkwardness melissa dahl wrote in an
article that awkward silences can be a
powerful tool for getting what you want
dull stated and i quote in researching
my new book cringeworthy which is about
the psychology of awkwardness i found
that uncertainty is a big factor in the
unpleasantness of feeling awkward these
are life's unscripted moments when
there's no clear indication of what to
say or do next
it's a well-established finding in
psychology research that not knowing
tends to make people uneasy and quote
so the uncertainty caused by such
silences in conversations makes people
uneasy did i say something wrong does
this person dislike me what's going to
happen next
and so the person on the receiving end
of the silence may proceed to make any
decision just to end the uneasiness of
the uncertain gap in the communication
and this decision could be beneficial to
the person brave enough to keep silent
at the right moment another benefit of
keeping silent during conversations is
that it's safer than speech in some
situations whatever we say weakens our
position for example if we're part of a
conversation about a subject we don't
know anything about in such cases it's
more powerful to listen not just because
listening grants us the opportunity to
learn but also because we don't make a
fool out of ourselves by trying to
appear knowledgeable when we are not
moreover keeping silent shows that were
interested and willing to listen which
people generally appreciate
roman writer pablius cyrus once stated i
often regret that i have spoken never
that i have been silent
4. silence improves well-being
how can one take refuge from a noisy
world and a noisy intellect innumerable
experiences of many different people
across the ages tell us that silence
helps us calm our busy minds a
significant body of research suggests
that silence relaxes the mind enhances
sleep and lessens insomnia also a study
found that two minutes of silence has a
more calming effect than listening to
relaxing music other studies show that
environmental noise exposure increases
stress hormone levels and can cause
disruptions in sleep structure
unnecessary noise is the most cruel
absence of care that can be inflicted on
sick or well wrote florence nightingale
an english social reformer and founder
of modern nursing
in an article on psychology today author
george michelson foy tells us that we've
learned to tolerate noise and see it as
something positive in our modern society
noise means that the machines are
working all technologies we have created
are up and running but by tolerating
this noise we make a serious mistake
according to foy
noise kills and the excessive input does
real damage and is detrimental to our
ability to function an argument backed
up by a copious amount of studies hence
to escape the unhealthy flow of
information and noise we need to build
silence into our lives
moments of silence improve overall
well-being and performance i quote
release is what i'm truly craving here
and release comes from emptiness the
emptiness of silence of lonely
landscapes of closed eyes of lying down
in a dark quiet room the drop in tension
that happens when we take a vacation
somewhere calm the instant of zero
gravity during orgasm the psychic leap
of a good joke when it flips the world
on its head for a splinter of a second
such voids cut off the fascist flow of
constant information and allows us to
recalibrate to think better to question
for a second our baseline it is really
really important to do that
and quote
silence is minimalistic and empty yet
imposing and powerful we can't verbalize
silence but everyone understands it it's
all-encompassing mysterious but clear
soothing but painful idle but useful
consenting but rebellious and elusive
but accessible to anyone
thank you for watching
you