The language of silence

The language of silence is supreme; it is superior; it is subtle. It uplifts; it enlightens; it has no script; just meanings, symbols; space.

It demolishes existing perceptions!  As I am aging I am fathoming the ‘language of silence’ and have started gaining my consciousness it. The language of a child. The language of my dog. It is the language of Gods! The morning sky; sun rising, the colours of cloud, abundance of nature all around through which it speaks!

More than communicate, we assimilate. The babies do it regularly. The moods of parents. The dogs do; the moods of master/mistress! But when we grow, we enter the areas of coarseness and entangle ourselves into complications of our own creations. Is it our limitation or inadequacy which debars us from the refined Language?

How silence speaks louder than words! Don’t we experience it in our conversation with friends, family members, elders, officials, when the ‘gaps’  between the conversation convey more than our actual talk? When we are expecting an important call, and the anticipation, the delay communicates more than the message!

The civilized world created numerous languages, and yet there are conflicts.  ‘Theatre of the Absurd’  was evolved as the writers and creative people realized the meaninglessness of language. They concluded that in the post-World War II society, language was being used not to communicate, not to express, not to reveal, but to hide, to conceal their thoughts. Language had become redundant and so the ‘Absurd’ theatre evolved in which the dialogues,  the interaction, the expression was ‘absurd’. The plays of Samuel Beckett, Edward Elbee, Harold Pinter, Eugene Ionesco demonstrated this approach. The famous play of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot represents the theatre.

I adore and crave the ‘Silent era’ of Cinema. The Cinema of Buster Keaton and   Charlie Chaplin. Some films of Hitchcock of the ‘Silent era’ were superior, such as ‘Blackmail’! I lament the loss of creativity of Charlie Chaplin with the advent of the ‘Talkies’.  I hope one day we shall return back to the ‘silent era’ cinema to discover the ‘Pure cinema’.

Silence is the language of resistance ; Of Satyagraha , of penance , of patience , of tolerance , of renunciation , of meditation , of contemplation . Gandhi ji would observe ‘Maun Vrat’ periodically.

There is a meditation philosophy called ‘Vipaasna’ based on the ancient Indian system wherein one maintains a  ‘Noble silence’, meaning silence of speech, body and mind during the ‘ten days’  course. This ‘silence’ instils introspection, peace from the harshness of urban life, inner discovery, self-realisation and much more.

Silence is the language of prayer, of frugality. It is the language of defiance and control; Of conservation. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose would formally retire to a prolonged period of silence and prayer before his campaigns. 

The language of silence is often the language of loneliness, of solitude, of isolation, of denial. Nature speaks in silence. It speaks directly, needs no translator.  Great works of literature have been created in isolation and silence!    

In this age where the beauty of the language is lost in the din of the demagogic rhetoric. Where poetry and creative prose remain un-nourished, where the voice of reason and balance is muffled.

Where the language that we witness is the insensitive bureaucratic style, which is the hallmark of the times that we live in, the language adopted by the media. Any person with money and power speaks the language of authority, of order, of instructions, of sermon and caution, of impending danger and severe consequences where prime time Television engages in verbal battles eternally, the meaning and substance and communication is lost and scepticism seeps in, creativity is jolted to such an extent.

Where politics is the dominant theme of life and art and literature are buried in the rubble of the human aspirations. In the loudness of the media surge, we seek sanity and purpose among conflicting and opposing and contradictory viewpoints, violent verbal outbursts.   The solitary recourse or defense against the above situation is ‘silence’.  Silence is the language of assimilation, of rejection, of rebuff, of resistance, of rebuttal, of retreat.  In his essay titled ‘Silence’ Robert Lynd writes humorously: “He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly.”

Our sages and seers would keep away from society and pray and meditate in forests in silence for prolonged durations, and evolve a philosophy of universal acceptance. Such introspection and creations was done in silence. The various Upanishads are a result of the solace and peace in which our sages made their profound contribution.  Robert Lynd says in the above essay: “Certain religious bodies have recognized the value of silence, and mystics have told us that it is through silence rather than speech that we arrive at a knowledge of the secret of life.”

Armistice Day is observed in Europe on 11 November by maintaining  ‘two minutes’ silence as on this day in 1918 the World War 1 ended. I end here by quoting from the above stated Lynd’s essay: “Cynics are doubtful whether any useful end is served by the ceremony of the ‘Two minutes’ silence that has now become an annual event in England and some other countries on the Armistice Day ; but having been in a London street , when all the traffic died down into perfect stillness , and every human being in sight stood motionless as a stone in a silent world , I , like a million others have felt the air of transformation . London of the bus and dray and warehouse seemed to be touched with a mystery and strangeness that meant more to the imagination than the hooting of horns and the hurry of tramping feet.”

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