The Blare of Silence

The last few weeks I have spent an inordinate amount of time with this concept of silence. Master Silence has become my best friend and my worst enemy. I have discovered that when my mind is clear and my world is spinning accurately on its axis, silence I choose can be a comforting friend. However, when the world is spinning backward, all of life is askew, or my mind is cluttered, confused, or overwhelmed, silence is oppressive and brings about ever greater panic and anxiety. Also, the silence of others can potentially bring on that same response. The more anxious state has been my mind as of late; a mind of uncertainty, of oppressively overwhelming silence from internal and external sources. And as much as I do try, in my sinfulness I admit, I do not deal well with these silences well at all. Interesting how odd coping mechanisms have crept into my day…I have watched more television, indulged in long texting dialogues with people, and stayed in my office for long hours in order to avoid the screaming silence that seems so pervasive in my head right now. I am sure this too shall pass, I just find it interesting.

Instead of my usual over-emotional and self-indulgent ravings, I offer you some wisdom from other sources to ponder on this concept of silence. I am sure something here will resonate with you as many of them do with me. I hope you find some appreciation here and may they help you understand your own need or want for silence as well as how the silence of others can often be interpreted. I found it quite interesting especially, that some of these quotes directly contradict each other…how easy it is to misunderstand when no words are ever spoken!

• Silence is a text easy to misread. A. A. Attanasio, 'The Eagle and the Sword'

• He who does not know how to be silent will not know how to speak. Ausonius

• The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread. Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)

• Oppression can only survive through silence. Carmen de Monteflores

• I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right. Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC)

• Silence is more musical than any song. Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)

• A fair request should be followed by the deed in silence. Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), The Divine Comedy

• Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

• Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn. George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950), Back to Methuselah (1921) pt. 5

• Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. Josh Billings (1818 - 1885)

• The most profound statements are often said in silence. Lynn Johnston (1947 - ), For Better or For Worse, 01-15-04

• Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. Martin Fraquhar Tupper

• In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

• Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

• Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. Peter Minard

• The cruelest lies are often told in silence. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)

• Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say. Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)