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Silence. Everyone experiences it. there is something about it that most people feel uncomfortable with. Ever been in a room with someone when the silence starts? yeah you have, and that feeling of awkwardness, which is a terrible feeling, a feeling of embarrassment... why don't most people like silence? is it that when there is nothing going on, you are only yourself for that moment? why is it so silently disturbing?
Silence is fine when you're alone. Silence in company is awkward.
If you're silent, it means you're thinking something actively and not saying it. And if you're not saying it, no one can tell what it is. And if no one can tell what it is you're thinking, for all they know, you could be plotting against them. *shifty-eyes*
Awkward social silence = suspicion!
Silence is also okay in intimate company--family, lovers, and longtime friends. I think that in company we want to sync up and share experience, and the ways we do that become more subtle as relationships progress, but in mixed company we just have to keep talking.
Well, humans tend to be social creatures, so the silence in the presence of others sort of violates this tendancy. My friend Thi says that it's when people don't speak because either they have nothing to say or they are thinking of what to say.
Personally, I experience the awkward feeling a little, but I try not to let it bother me since most of the time it's around strangers and I'm unsocial to folks I don't know and have no reason to talk to.
There is the saying -That awkward silence. Sometimes silence can say the most.
The silent treatment
The silences in a speech or a conversation.
We have been brought up to feel that we always have to be talking. Even if it is about nothing. :argue:
I don't mind silence.
One doesn't always have to think either when silent.. I like to have moments of not thinking and not speaking .. it is very relaxing :)
You get an A+ for being the first person with less than 100 posts to write something coherent.
Anyway. Myself, I prefer silence over inane jabber.
The album Nevermind has ten minutes of silence before the last song, while the album Lateralus also has a few minutes of silence.
I love the silence of nature. It is the greatest thing to climb a mountain, and to look down at the world in all its majesty, contemplating the universe. No annoying people, no cars speeding past, just you and the mountain and silence.
I agree with M-Cat.
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." - Mark Twain
I like that quote :D
Silence over the phone is more awkward than in person. I'd also prefer silence over senseless chatter. In some situations, communication is inevitable. Even in silence. Subtle forms of communication are developed such as the reading and interpretation of another's body language and actions -- and in turn -- the body language and actions of the other person can be expressed and read. It may be completely "silent", but thoughts and feelings are being communicated.
sh
:D I can read your body language Howie...
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Originally Posted by Howie
Damn! It always gives me away! :doh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Paradox
Silence. When you concentrate when things are silent it is surprising how many little things that you can here, little things we just inadvertently tune out.
Awesome post Howie.
So does me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Paradox
Hmm I do not find silence awkward. Even on the phone, there's always so much happening w/ the interaction between people that it's like a conversation in itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by petersonad
Silence never exists. There will always be something to break it, and so we can never truly experience it. The closest, however, that I came to silence made me feel as though my brain was compressing and trying to get out my ears. Listening to (near)silence does that.
I think that (near)silence amongst company is awkward because of our views of how we should be interacting. If silence happened more often, it would be less awkward; but since we think that when we are in company we should always be talking, it feels strange when nobody says anything for a while.
thank you. i dont say much, but that doesnt mean i have nothing to say.Quote:
Originally Posted by M-Cat
quote:
I don't mind silence.
One doesn't always have to think either when silent.. I like to have moments of not thinking and not speaking .. it is very relaxing :)
i agree with you. i try to not-think alot in silence. it is very nice to shut off the babbler and just be in absolute non-thought, where you are just you, with no influences or distractions. then you can really focus on what is going on at the moment, in the now.
There is really no such thing as complete silence. Anyone else have that permenant ringing that always seems be an underlayer to silence? When there's no sound of anything, I always hear it, then it disappears with even the quietest noise.
Yes I hear it too.
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com...lennnnnnn2.jpg
In tokyo, there was a soundproof isolation chamber at a art museum I've been to before where you attach a monitor to your heartbeat and the room darkens and eventually the only sound you can hear is your heartbeat projected on these speakers which circle around you 360 degrees randomly. I must say, it really throws off your center of balance of what's up and what's down. When the lights come back on you feel like you just flew around the cosmos.
If I ever had enough money, I'd love to get a sensory deprivation chamber like that for the next stage of meditating.
Sensory deprivation sounds incredible.
i would actually love to go into one of those chambers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TinnitusQuote:
Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed
The article focuses almost exclusively on the chronic illness form of it, but everyone experiences it to an extent. It's not necessarily a noise laying under silence, but our brains/ears getting restless when not receiving input.
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Originally Posted by Howie
I agree. Also, sensory deprivation is something I've always wanted to try.
I've also wanted to try sensory deprivation.
But it would drive me crazy. I, too, hear a noise in complete silence. I liken the sound to power lines- it's a magnetic sort of hum.
That link was very informative. I often hear my pulse in my ears which is now worrisome lol.
I HATE phone silence. I feel like it's wasted time and I get very impatient.