by Sarah Monk | July, 2018 | Sarah Monk, Silence
In the last six months I’ve had three experiences of silent retreats. This has given me the opportunity to reflect on the power of silence and the range of responses it elicits from people. Some people embrace silence. I am one of them. I live with my husband and our two teenage children, all of them play different musical instruments, there’s not a lot of quiet in our house. On the rare occasion I’m in the house on my own, the washing machine or dishwasher are usually running. I welcome silence. However, I have observed some people seem really uncomfortable at the prospect of a period of silence. On reflections at the end of silent retreat periods, some of these people come to enjoy the silence, but some don’t. It’s also possible to look forward to a period of silence only to find you can’t engage with it and I have had this experience in the past. What does this tell us about the functions of silence? The Functions Of Silence It is clear that silence has power. Like any power it can be used to hurt or to heal and perhaps this is why people respond so variably to it. For some people silence means loneliness, isolation or awkwardness. It can be used to indicate emotional withdrawal, disapproval or even punishment. In our language the word silence is often used with negative connotations; a conspiracy of silence, being given the silent treatment, lifting the veil of silence. In our busy, noisy world many people seem to fear silence. Research is fairly clear that too much noise is bad...
