About Silence
About Silence
Egyptian god Horus was known as Harpocrates by the Greeks and Romans, who worshiped him as the god of silence; he was represented in this context as a child with his finger held to his lips.

Silence has been seen valuable as promoting spiritual concentration so silence has been an aspect of most religious traditions and of many philosophies and such exercises as meditation. Maintaining periods of silence were recommended in many religious practices, such as ascetism in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglo-Catholic traditions, and monasticism. Strict silence was observed by Trappist and Cistercian monks. In the mid-20th century the Trappists increased in membership, particularly in the United States; one of the monks was a prominent writer, Thomas Merton (1915-1968).

Fascination about silence can be seen in the literature, film, and music.

Literature:

Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) was the principal founder of the Theosophical movement and a defender of spiritualism. Her major work is 'The Voice of Silence'.
Harold Pinter, b.1930, one of England's leading contemporary playwrights, wrote 'Silence' in 1969.
The Russian poet Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont 1867-1942, was the representative of early Russian symbolism, originally known as decadence. His works include 'Tishina' (Silence, 1898).
Nathalie Sarraute, b.1902, a leading exponent of the new novel in France, wrote a play 'Silence and The Lie' (1967; Eng. trans., 1969)
British novelist Paul Mark Scott (1930-1978), 'The Towers of Silence', 1971.
Hans Christian Branner,1903-1966, an outstanding Danish writer, wrote 'Two Minutes of Silence' (1944; Eng. trans., 1966).
The Anglo-Irish writer William Trevor, b.1928, wrote in the 1988 novel 'The Silence in the Garden'.
Carlos Castaneda, b. 1925, an American anthropologist noted for a series of best-selling books wrote 'The Power of Silence (1987)'.

American writer Arthur Davison Ficke, (1883-1945) published 'Out of Silence' (1924).
Japanese author Endo Shusaku, b.1923: 'Silence' (1966; Eng. trans., 1979).
Eduardo Mallea,(1903-1982), an Argentinian writer, wrote 'The Bay of Silence' (1940; Eng. trans., 1944).
André Malraux's philosophy of art became the source of a series of critical works 'The Voices of Silence' (1951; Eng. trans., 1953).
The French writer Andre Maurois (1885-1967), the gently satirical 'The Silence of Colonel Bramble' (1918; Eng. trans., 1927).

Film:
The Silence of the Lambs (Director: Jonathan Demme, 1992).
Rene Clair, a French film director elected to the Academie Francaise, made several comedies, including 'Le Silence est d'or' (Silence Is Golden, 1947)
Ingmar Ernst Bergman, b.1918, a major Swedish filmmaker, directed his film 'The Silence' (1963).

Music:
The composer John Cage, (1912-1992). His music often includes structured silence as well as sound. At the other extreme, Cage experimented with silences. Cage's many writings include Silence (1961).
The vocal and instrumental duo Simon and Garfunkel. The 1966 album "Sounds of Silence" was a smash hit.
The Japanese composer Takemitsu Toru,(1930-1996). A sense of space and silence are important components of Takemitsu's music.
'Cool' was one of the most important new jazz styles of the 1950s. Cool rejected the emotional intensity, used more silence, and featured an instrumental style marked by smooth attack and little vibrato.

A fear of silence. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), considered the creator of modern existential philosophy, described the state of the "shut-upness" where people block off their perception of reality as a defense against anxiety of the terror, perdition and annihilation that dwell next door to every man. Anxiety is experienced, when no actual fear-causing object exists. The persistence of such behavior results in a need for playful activities and cheerful sounds.

Silence can be seen as an antonym to 'play', and "play has been seen as an antonym to 'work'. "That's probably where it got its bad reputation." (Rheingold, 1991, p. 372). John Calvin linked work and salvation, so "'just playing around' has been seen as something close to sinful." (Rheingold, 1991, p. 372).

Play is seen as a way in which we express our inner self and communicate it to others. Today's cognitive scientists acknowledge play, particularly symbolic play, as an area where cognition and culture meet. It's a mental stimulus for liberating new ideas. In Huizinga's view, play was a vehicle for creating culture. All modern theories of play claim that it is useful as a preparation for life because of the ways in which children learn to solve intellectual and social problems while they play. Play could be important in therapy, can be used to diagnose conflicts in children. Piaget and other psychologists stress educational value of play. They understood play as a vital part of every person's cognitive, social, and emotional development. Play is a way of organizing our models of the world and models of ourselves, of testing hypotheses about ourselves and the world, and of discerning new relationships or patterns in the jumble of our perceptions.
When one looks at animals at play, one notices that they give very clear-cut communications to each other. They signal the message "This is play" by wagging their tails, jumping up and down, or doing some other thing to indicate that what they are about to do is not to be taken for real. Their bite is a playful bite, not a real bite.

Current studies of human players show that they are also very careful to let others know they are playing, in much the same way animals do. They announce that "This is only a game," or they laugh, nudge, or do something odd to show their intent.


Bibliography:
Bianco, F., Voices of Silence: Lives of the Trappists Today (1991; repr. 1992).
Grollier Multimedia Encyclopedia 1997.
Huizinga, J. (1950). Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. New York: Roy Publishers.
Howard Rheingold (1991), Virtual Reality, New York: Summit Books, Simon & Schuster Building.
Schneider, K. J. & May, R. (1995). The psychology of existence. An integrative, clinical perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.