The Call For Silence: Reflections on its history and modern practice
By Calli Opethalia
The Need for Silence
From a post industrialised world where extroversion was first exhorted, moving into an age of connectivity in this digital era seemed like a natural way our civilisation would progress in the name of globalisation and advancement. We have certainly all benefitted from the positive aspects of this age of technological advancement and connectedness — convenience, wealth creation, abundance of goods and services to address every need we had and those we didn’t know we had, progress on human rights issues, accessibility to information, etc.
As with all things human, these great advancements have a tendency to rampage into over indulgence. We get so blinded by the glittery facade of the good things in life that we overlook, consciously or unconsciously, the negative consequences that come with it — overconsumption, socio-economic inequality, an increasing amount of waste, climate change, noise pollution, information and opinion overload, fake news, loss of privacy and loss of a sense of self. Nothing in life is ceteris paribus, everything is connected, and our actions will always have both positive and negative consequences. There is an opportunity cost in everything we do.
Research by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the health impacts of environmental noise has revealed “... evidence on the relationship between environmental noise and specific health effects, including cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance and tinnitus.” This is just research on the physical noise we hear, what about the intangible noise from opinion leaders, advertising, and the avalanche of information we now have access to? What does it say of our existing systems if they are built and perpetuated by dysfunctional individuals?
Silence salves our dysfunction caused by external noise.
In allowing us time to be with ourselves, silence provides the space to go inwards to find that muzzled inner voice, reclaim our natural intuition, access our inner see-saw to balance the essentiality of our (perceived) needs and wants with morality, values and integrity as we move through life making choices and decisions that impact not just ourselves but everything outside of ourselves.
A History of Silence
Throughout history, across various religions, diverse cultures and members of different social strata, we see evidence of mystics, religious leaders, pilgrims, philosophers and great thinkers, writers, artists, going into the desert, seeking out caves and mountaintops in search of deeper meaning and purpose — things we can never buy but seem to need inherently as a human being.
The oldest documented evidence of meditation and spiritual retreats can be found in the wall arts in India from approximately 5000 to 3500 BCE, whereas written evidence was first seen in the Vedas around 1500 BCE. Other forms developed in Taoist China and Buddhist India around the 4th to 6th centuries BCE, spreading into Japan and Korea and finally taking hold in the West during the middle ages.
We can find many references to the discipline of silence in different ancient texts and teachings.
From the Old testament in the Christian bible and the Jewish Torah, Habakkuk 2:20, the prophet writes “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” referring to a practice of this command, where Christians must strive to create quietness in the clamour of noise that infiltrates their everyday lives and through the silence that exposes the soul, they can rest in God and lean into God, as the Holy Spirit lives and works in them bringing about self control, wonder, rest and wisdom.
The Pali Canon Buddhist scriptures relates to Noble Silence — attributed to the Buddha Gautama — as a internal state of Jhana (meditation) that unifies the three aspects of being, the mind, body and speech, bringing about an awareness of the whole body and the understanding of self and an assurance in oneself.
In the Quran, the Holy Prophet said, ” If a person is given silence, he is given wisdom”. This speaks to the practice of silence as an enterprise that delivers the true richness of the soul through self discipline, restrain, slowing down to increase awareness and engaging in reflection to find joy in the humbleness and purity of heart.
Within Tasawwuf (Sufism), the music of silence heard only by the Saints and the People of Allah, is a key to unlocking the secret of one’s existence where one may find the forgotten and neglected treasures hidden within his being and can deliver him from unfortunate and noisy life events without abandonment of that world.
The discourse on silence is impregnated in many areas of human life, living amongst many philosophical, literary and cultural works from the days of the ancient Greeks to current day authors, artists and even scientists.
The Science on Silence
Modern science has uncovered that silence has many health benefits. A study, in 2013, published in the journal Brain, Structure and Function found that a minimum of two hours of silence daily resulted in the creation of new cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain linked to emotion, learning and recall. A 2006 study published in Heart journal found that noise affects our stress levels by raising cortisol and adrenaline and just two minutes of silence can relieve the tension created.
A further study, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013, discovered that, during silence, the brain rests in its default mode, which is still actively internalising and evaluating internal and external information. In silence, its is able to integrate information into “a conscious workspace”, i.e., brain space. This at-rest default mode “is observed most closely during the psychological task of reflection on one’s personalities and characteristics (self-reflection), rather than during self-recognition, thinking of the self-concept, or thinking about self-esteem, for example.”
Modern Practices of Silence
Modern day systems — designed to lift the human civilisation out of poverty and disease through industrial and technological advancements, the free market economy and both democratic and authoritarian political systems — have been and are continuing to breakdown since the moment of inception. The societal illnesses they claim to fix continue to be pervasive. War, Famine, Poverty, Socio-economic Disparity, oppression of Human Rights are still very much prevalent in the world we live in today albeit in new advanced manifestations.
“I have heard the languages of apocalypse, and now I shall embrace the silence.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Endless Nights
Since this way forward still provides no good solutions, it is no wonder we have now turned to ancient wisdoms for answers. Having lived through the post industrialisation and the digital age, both filled with excess and extroversion, it is also no wonder we are now looking inward, searching for some silence, and simplicity which by now have become precious and hard to find commodities.
The wellness industry, in recognising this need for silence, has joined the ranks of organised religions in offering silent retreats where one can be facilitated in this search. Modern day psychology has also begun to promote a practice of meditation to calm the mind and bring about mindfulness.
By shedding the external layers of fashionable clothing, living without plans or societal contracts and controls, one settles into a place of simplicity, where one can simply Be without having to Do. With this, we start off seeking answers to questions and many end up realising that answers and understanding lie within reconnection with the self and/or with their god, in silence. As Herman Melville once wrote, “All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence.”
If, like me, you’ve gleaned the benefits of silence in small doses and would like to further your exploration of this practice, or you want to be able to do a silent retreat from your home and don’t know how to, or simply need some time with yourself, check out Re:Well Rebel’s Silent Retreat “A Day with Me” with Master Subba. They’ve thoughtfully offered 1-day to 3-days, Guided and DIY retreat options so that we can fit it in to our busy schedules.
Finally, before you rush off to do that errand you needed to do after reading this article, let us sit in a minute of silence...
Thank you for reading.
Calli Opethalia