Here is a song i enjoyed recently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2gmd6DJ0Zcfollowed by an articles about silence....
March 13, 2005
Silence: A Virtue or A Vice?
One of my closest friends sometimes tells me, "You give me a great support with your silence." I am happy. I remain silent.
The same friend some other times tells me, "Your silence hurts me. Do you think its decency to be like that?" I am unhappy. I still remain silent.
Most of my friends think that I am never silent. Those who matter the most to me know that I am silent most of the time. The above two dialogues are those of someone who matters the most. What should I do? Should I remain silent? Its the easier way. Should I not remain silent? I can try not to be with some difficulty.
You can tell me that I should be silent when I should be. And I should not be silent when I should not. You think I didn't know that? Its when the question is posed in a more specific manner that the answer becomes elusive for everybody.
Isn't silence a virtue? I believed that it is. I have read like most of you did, many quotations by many great people trying to tell us how virtuous this virtue is.
After my friend made those two contradicting statements, I also read a few other quotations by a few great people. e.g:- Silence is a text, easy to misread. and The cruellest lies are often told in silence. Does this make silence a deceptive virtue? How can something be a virtue when it can cause misunderstandings or can be used to cause harm? These properties remove the virtuosity of such a virtue. Then does silence become a vice?
What is Silence? The simplest meaning is, "the state of saying nothing".
Unfortunately I also read quotations like Of those who say nothing, few are silent.
Holy ****! Not only do I not know whether silence is a virtue or a vice. Now I don't even know the meaning of silence. Because, these say that not saying nothing and silence are different. Great People.
Aren't these great people there to help us lead a better life? These are just making my life more difficult, successfully. Why do they need to quote something philosophical and prove their greatness? A fool like me can't understand them anyway. Why don't they just remain silent?
I have decided not to take anyone on face value. Hereafter, I make my own definitions. Ok, I am not intelligent enough to make my own definitions. I shall atleast make my own choices. May be they will depend on some of the quotations.
I realize that whatever silence may be it can neither be a virtue, nor a vice. I will find the inner meaning later when I grow sufficiently wiser. For the time being, I need to choose whether or not to be silent.
I choose to be silent. Its not because of the enormously great number of pro-silence quotations. Its because, I respect silence more that non-silence. I can be silent with greater ease. Also, its best to be silent when you do not know the right answer and its the virtue of fools.
I know that my silence will offend my friends - they misinterpret it as apathy. It will offend my teachers - they misinterpret it as arrogance. Most others misinterpret it as ignorance.
I will live with their misinterpretations, just like I have already learnt to do so. Perhaps, they aren't misinterpreting at all. It doesn't mean that I am placing a gag order on myself. It just means that I will be silent whenever I choose to be. This way you will not know whether I am silent because of my intelligence or my ignorance. And that is just what I want.
Disclaimer : I hold no responsiblity whatsoever legally or otherwise, if you sense any problems - physical, psychological, spiritual or any other - after reading these posts.
posted by Sravan | 22:00
