Is silence golden?
Is silence golden? I’m curious to see what people have to say. Do you believe that silence is golden or are there times when one should speak up instead of remaining silent?
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26 Answers
Not my silence. That’s deadly.
I’d say it’d depend entirely on the situation. I absolutely love silence sometimes, but others I think some people need to speak up.
When there’s nothing good to say, and when I’ve got a headache. :)
I agree that it completely depends on the circumstances. Many times silence is much to be prized and seldom to be found.
Like when I am walking in the woods. I don’t want anyone talking to me so I can hear the sounds of nature.
Silence is not called for when someone says something derogatory about some person or group in one’s presence.
Yes, unless you feel you need a response. In that case, silence can scream.
Silence is like a rock. Sometimes it’s better to remain as silent as a stone, others it’s better to shatter the glass and speak up.
shhhhhh… I’m appreciating the silence
OK, so lets say you are out in public and you have been watching a parent with their child. You notice that the child could become hurt in a way. Do you say something to the parent or just keep watching?
Since one aspect of silence has pretty much been covered..and very nicely, I would like to add another. Literal silence. Something I have never experienced. When there is absolutely no external noises, my ears ring. It gets louder and louder, so that, to get relief from the “silence”, I have to produce some noise.
@Jade That makes me wonder. I have had that happen to me. I would be sitting in a room with no noise and have my ears ring. It is very odd. I am not sure why this happens or why our body somehow seems to tell us that we need noise.
There’s a story in Zen literature of a famous master who got up in front of a crowd that included the emperor to deliver a sermon. He went up to the lectern, gave it a whack with his stick, and walked off.
One of the monks turned to the emperor and asked him “Do you understand?”
The emperor said “No”, so the monk offered some explanation about how the master had fully expounded the truth of Zen.
Later, another master said the monk’s explanation was “like a turd floating in a bowl of clear soup”.
Sometimes, it’s just better to let reality speak for itself.
@ Harp Good one. I like that answer :)
When the other person has said it all and there is nothing more to say that would make a difference…..yes.
Especially when they should be seen and not heard.
Silence is golden and duct tape is silver. The former is sometimes achievable only by a liberal application of the latter.
I think it’s more a tannish shade, myself.
I’d say more of a shinny gunmetal gray…
Not when people are affected by tinnitus and acute hearing loss.
Otherwise silence can be a powerful tool to find your inner poise.
That all depends—- silence shared among close friends while watching a deer and its fawn gracefully leap across your hiking trail? Yes, golden! Silence from being at the receiving end of ‘The Slient Treatment?’ No! Silence as you cuddle your sleeping newborn? The most golden of silences imaginable, for all of the best reasons imaginable…
Silence as in freedom from social chit-chat? Better than gold, platinium.
True silence is extremely rare these days.
At home, there’s always someone walking around, always the tappity-tap of a keyboard, the quiet whirring of the computer fan, or the plumbing, or the sump pump grinding away, or the distant whush of traffic.
At work, there’s the constant murmur of a busy store, announcements over the PA, the squeaking and grinding of the quad meat carbonizers, the drone from the radio (aggravated by the fact that the majority of the meat department people like R&B, and I don’t) and the constant drone of the refrigerator fans.
Which is why I love having the the occasional opportunity to go out and sit in the woods now and then. It’s so quiet that you can almost literally hear yourself think. You can hear the bugs crawl through the fallen leaves. You can sometimes even hear the daily target practice at Ft. Leonard Wood almost twenty miles away.
Hunting is an excellent pastime for reflection. Or perhaps a nap. :D
Yes, I also go out to the country to get that golden silence….and if everyone would try this weekly we’d be better off-eh?
sometimes, silence should be easily interrupted though….depends on the situation.
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