The power of silence

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone -Blaise Pascal

Silence can be a quiet act of courage. It’s best as many small, subtle acts.

It is permissive and wants to know more. It does not ask for attention.

The silence when listening properly to understand fully. The silence as we observe our surroundings whilst waiting in line instead of distracting ourselves with a phone. The silence while bearing negative emotions like anger instead of reacting. These are not acts of emptiness or passivity.

Looking at the world from the outside, with all the development of nations and sprawl of humans across the planet, it might be tempting to think humans are somewhere a better version today than how they were in medieval, Egyptian or even earlier. My intuition is that is not the case. The ‘software’ of culture has grown exponentially. But the hardware has not changed. Under the hood, we’re the same; story-driven, narrative creatures. Perplexed by the finitude of life and capable of wonder and horror alike.

Silence is necessary to transform our understanding, feelings and intuitions. The silence I mean, is when we sit still and bear an experience and not run from it. Labelling ones’ feelings and watching them unfold instead of reacting to them. Being fully present in discomfort. I swear this adulting I am asked to do these days mainly consists of dealing with discomfort in some way or another.

People like to think they take in the world and see what is there objectively. We don’t. We all have many handy boxes at the ready to squeeze the world into. Rules of thumb, stereotypes, expectations. But these are not reality. The silence I mean is seeing and being with before stuffing into a box.