Skip to main content

Two Minutes: A Dimension of Silence

There is no thing as "silence", except maybe in a vacuum. 

While it has many meanings, it is often interpreted as consent- after all, if you do not raise your voice, you are in agreement, are you not?

Sometimes, silence is the fallout of too much noise in your life.

When you lose trust in the words you speak, and feel they no longer convey the meaning they once did. At first, a self-imposed necessity, then a meditative retreat into self, it is the pain of not being able to say what you want to say, and when you do say, what you hear is not what you wanted to say.

It is observing, absorbing, maybe even reflecting- a personal silence is a state of listening, carefully, to the words and sounds others make, and wondering what your response would be. It is missing friends, and laughter, and times when it was easy not to be silent. It is wanting to be able to speak again, or risk never being heard.

It is realising that you no longer can be silent.

It is knowing when not to be, having learnt how to be. 

As long as it is a choice, silence is a good thing, even if it is painful to endure. In a noisy world, it is becoming increasingly rare. If it is not a choice, noise is needed. 

Simon and Garfunkel, of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IGAF: Utopia- Les Jours Meilleurs

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this post, titled Dystopia , containing a dark version of the future, a look at the negative outcomes that might crawl out of the COVID-19 crisis. It has, by now been described as "9/11 in slow motion". Someone else broke a golden editorial rule to describe it as "2008  on crack". Media outlets, including Youtube, have warned of the long-term effects of this, on civil rights, labour and employment, surveillance and press freedom. And some, most notably Mr Orban of Hungary, have used this excellent opportunity to pass new, restrictive legislation that concentrates power in their hands. There have been calls for the elusive COVID cure not to be patented. And yet… And yet… It's easy to lose yourself in a media bubble, following the news and media 24/7, following, queuing in line to get into expensive shops, just walking into discount stores and the constant desire for many drinks (preferably with 10 friends or more, in a park...

IGAF: Disappearing the inconvenient.

This IGAF (Is Goodness a Fashion) series explores, from a non-expert point of view, the social, economic and narrative ramifications I see developing from the COVID-19 crisis, worries, but also hopes for a future that the current shock to the system may result in. It's a pity that random things happen when random people interact. That a person might be exposed to unexpected, or unpleasant sights when they leave the house. That we might see trash, homeless people, the effects of gentrification, closed stores in polluted streets, trees withered by mercurial weather, people in environmental suits, afraid of the diseases lurking within the safe confines of those suits. The world divided into those who have to face the streets, the Outside, and those who are safe Inside. It's a pity that these still interact. Our measure as a species that claims moral, ethical and intellectual hegemony over this planet will be two-fold as we deal with the COVID-19 crisis: On the one hand, socie...

The Books of Faragh 4: Of Lines

This time, it's really all about lines ;) Below: Book of Faragh 4: of Lines (May 2020) Faragh/فراغ (Ar): emptiness, vacuum, a free space http://caramk.net/faragh/faragh.html