Thread: Silence

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.

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

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

I can read your body language Howie...

Originally Posted by Howie

sh

Originally Posted by Timothy Paradox

I can read your body language Howie...

Damn! It always gives me away!

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.

Originally Posted by Timothy Paradox

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

So does me.

Originally Posted by petersonad

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.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by M-Cat

You get an A+ for being the first person with less than 100 posts to write something coherent.

thank you. i dont say much, but that doesnt mean i have nothing to say.

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.

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.

Joe Rogan Floatation Tank

i would actually love to go into one of those chambers.

Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed

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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

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.

Originally Posted by Howie

sh

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.