Member-only story
The Power of Silence
Silence is golden
This writing piece first appeared in my newsletter. To get pieces like this directly to your inbox weeks before I publish elsewhere, click here.
“Be silent, or say something better than silence.” -Pythagoras
We hear many stories of philosophers, writers, inventors and thinkers embracing silence. How they would go for long walks with nothing but the sound of nature to accompany them, or sit and think, alone, in their studies.
And yet, silence today is a rarity. To find it, we must consciously seek it out. Some researchers contend that people today have acquired a learned fear of silence, borne out of constant background noise from the radio and TV in childhood. I usually have the radio, Spotify or the TV on in the background of whatever I’m doing, so I appreciate that desire to have some sort of bustling audio energy around you. Even now, as I write this, I’m listening to the Classical Essentials playlist on Spotify (my go-to when writing).
Because of these background-noise habits, which could be compounded by our constant connectivity to social media, a fear of silence might be more profound in today’s society than ever before.
I wonder if this fear could stop us from really focusing on our tasks. After all, if…
