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.
