Definition Essay: A Book Of Silence

What does silence mean?

Literally speaking, the word silence comes from the Latin word silens meaning to be still, quiet, or at rest. In English, it still maintains some of these meaning as most modern dictionaries define silence as the condition or quality of being or keeping still and silent, the absence of sounds, stillness or as a period of time without speech or noise.

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However depending only on these definitions we just learn silence's first fundamental sense. Hence the silence is more than the state of being silent; entire absence of sound or absolute stillness. The silence, this research paper is

Moreover, we see silence as intrinsically dangerous, anti-social or abnormal. We fear and hate silence and we do everything possible to avoid it. In her book "A Book of Silence ", Sara Maitland stated*:

"…. instant and constant verbal communication is experienced not so much as a pleasure, but as a necessity. Background music, even in shopping malls where there is already a great deal of noise, so that no one can actually hear the music, is ubiquitous. The length of an acceptable silent pause on the radio has been reduced steadily over the last decade. Silence in public places, like libraries or churches, is increasingly considered oppressive rather than valuable. The silence of mourning is being replaced by cheering….".

In this statement, Sara Maitland has tried to draw our attention to our strange fear-hate relationship with silence. She gives us some habits that we unconsciously used to do in the everyday life to avoid

Our ego** is temporarily switched off or at least made to be quiet for a bit, and we start to see the real world as it should be (he continued). Our thoughts get in the way of our reality sometimes and we don't see the beauty of the world around us. When there is silence there is time for introspection and to allow your true-self to speak, not the ego, not the conscious mind but the true-self connected to the flow of energy around us (Steven added in his online Blog).

Tony Cuckson agrees with Steven Aitchison by saying that through silence we could trust our selves. Silence enables us to listen to our inner voice and to detect our unique methods of thinking. It gives us a chance to understand our selves better. Consequently, we improve and re-establish our relationships with our selves. We simply used to think that others know better than we do. We have been taught this for most of our lives. Listening silently to the promptings of our hearts we begin got know our own voices. We become our own