—Confucius
People say, “Silence is golden”, yes, of course. Many people can agree with that as far as it does not lead to a different and undesired end. Silence is a good way of expressing one’s feelings towards something that one is not sure about what to say. Other people say, “Silence means acceptance”, which does not necessarily signify accepting but may be ‘acceptance when there is no other choice’. In societies where power is shared by few and by force society accepts many rules and regulation without violence and opposition, which does not manifest itself outwardly, in such cases the silence of acceptance is there but it is not willful. Thus for the others it may mean another thing. It is a very intriguing matter, which needs silent observation of the specific action before reaching to a kind of definition and conclusion. Silence does not have specific interpretation that one can give, but may be interpreted according to the norm agreed and understood, and by the culture and the society one is living in. Silence is often misinterpreted.
Different societies have various ways of perceiving or defining what silence means to them depending on the experience and relation they have already established with it, in which the Estonians say that “Silence is sometimes the answer”. Silence has been interacting in such communities as being an answer. When you are asked to do something, if you keep silent, it is up to the person who asks to interpret your silence in way he feels it as an answer; which makes it very ambiguous and controversial when things go differently from the way that silence wants to deliver. It is so hard to describe, but as far as one is living in that environment, it is understood in that way. In silence, there is noise and sound. We have a huge world inside silence, which demands huge energy to govern the secrets and mysteries endowed in it. It is not keeping the tongue idle, but rather busying and occupying one’s mind, hear and soul with thoughts, mysteries, imagination and realities.
Human being is created to converse and communicate with people, but sometimes we prefer not to do so. Why? There can be many reasons why we prefer to be silent than talking. The followings are some of the major good reasons to why people may prefer silence.
• When the person is stranger to us—Shyness.
• When we do not like the topic or subject of discussion—Lack of interest.
• When we do not want to argue—Avoiding unnecessary arguments.
• When we hate someone—Express hatred.
• When we do not have enough information about a topic—Lack of knowledge.
• When we want to express humility—To avoid competition in ideas.
• When we are depressed—Boredom.
• When we are in the mood of prayer and contemplation—Meditation.
• When we oppose something and are not free to say—Opposition.
For whichever reason one is using, silence as an outward expression of something that one thinks deep inside, which does not necessarily mean that it is simply nothing that has no sound. In a very fact, when we are silent, we are giving an opportunity to listen to the melodies or noises of this world, to the music of our own life and to the sound of nature as well. Silence is the hardest argument to refute. Silence is the best instruments that the wise use to promulgate their wisdom and knowledge. It is a powerful instrument, which keeps the balance of the universe in a way now is otherwise it would have been a disaster.
Silence may have contextual interpretation depending on the way society observes and understands, but may differ from person to person on how one applies it in the daily interaction within a society. It is not wise and appropriate to judge any individual’s action of silence in the context of one culture, for any generalizations may lead to wrong conclusions. We may need to look up to the very specific aspect of it, why a person is silent, without looking in to how our culture defines it. Our culture is a mixture of our good thoughts and our own bias, which gives us a direction on how we are, which does not necessarily be unerring balance to weigh any ideal outside our own setting.
The Swiss says, “Speech is silver, but silence is gold”, which is a very nice way of putting the value of silence. We need to speak at times needed, and we need to be silent likewise. It does not mean that we need to be silent the whole of our life, which may lead us to be dumb, and cannot be gold rather than being nothing and non-sense. If we take it as it is, it may lead us to a wrong conclusion, but when we try to see it in a different perspective, it gives to us a good sense. It is better to be silent, rather than talking about matters we do not know, bothering people with noise by trying to dominate others. Tongue is provided to us to talk those words that are the source of goodness to others, that can result in happiness and goodness to the speaker and others, otherwise it is indeed unwise to speak for it may not lead to the goodness of oneself and others, which leads us to meditate on the words of wisdom revealed by Bahá’u’lláh: “the essence of true safety is to observe silence, to look at the end of things and to renounce the world”.
Silence is indeed better than unwise speech. We need to be silent at times needed, and we need to speak as well. Both should be balanced, for the extremity of one may lead to the undesirable and wrong end. As it is beautifully stated in the Holy Bible, for every thing there is a season, a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. It is a fact that the extremity of both ends in madness, for researches indicate that the highest rate of people who commit suicide are the silent people, for they do not express outwardly.
In whatever culture silence is defined moderation is a good aspect we need to learn for every thing has its own limit and if it goes beyond that it may not be gold or safe and whatever good things it may offer us. Moderation in silence is not something that can be marginalized where we cannot draw a line that we can be silent up to this point it needs personal wise judgment and conscious discretion which may not lead to disappointment and wrong end.
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