‘THE CONSCIOUS REST’

WHY AM I AFRAID OF SILENCE? PART II: The Nature of Silence (b) The Conscious Rest

We continue to look at the inner life of silence. From the preceding write-ups, we are convinced that silence is an act. As the Psychologist postulated, it can be learned or unlearned. If silence belongs to the realm of action, it then means it is self-generated and involves an active mind.  It is not mere passivity. This is because a silent man is attentive, or rather, he projects his mind to gather and process information at the same time. He picks up and retains data more efficiently.

 

This twofold dimensional reflective psychological projection consumes energy. Simply put: silence can be energy sapping and can generate tension. So one not schooled in it can easily become uncomfortable when confronted by silence; he gets wearied out by it. In the article below (http://nwachinwe.blogspot.com/2015/05/why-am-i-afraid-of-silence-ii-silence.html), it was discovered that frequent exposure to ‘background noise’ leads to fear of silence.

 

On the other hand, silence can be healthy and energy-giving. It can be a source of replenishing lost strength and healing wounds. As an act that goes in the two directions—outwards and inwards—it bounces back on us to restore lost confidence. Since silence is first and foremost and internal job, it recreates the inner self. In silence we do not merely give ourselves out, rather we receive more than we give out i.e. less information is given out, more is accumulated. Though silence is a conscious act, it inclines one to the direction of inactivity. Ironically, we can say that in silence the mind is consciously at rest.  ‘’Conscious rest’’ is another name I give to silence. Thus, we are refreshed and internally more secure when we embrace silence. Yes, this can be obvious if we consider that the gathering and assimilation of more data brings confidence and tranquillity to the silent mind.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that I am afraid of silence when it confronts me. And it confronts me when I do not practice it.  Therefore, the key to overcoming the fear of silence is to keep learning it or practicing it. The extent of the uneasiness we experience when confronted by silence goes a long way to show how poor a student are we at the school of silence.

Fr. Jude C. Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Mother of Perpetual Help Shrine,

Ugwogo-Nike, Enugu, Nigeria.