Commentary

Listening to the ‘silence,’ my old friend

July 22, 2026   ·   0 Comments

MARK PAVILONS

As I sat enjoying my morning coffee I closed my eyes and let the sun kiss me on my cheeks.
I closed my eyes and was struck by the unusual quiet, the silence of it all. No wind to rustle the leaves, no animal sounds, no whir of residential a/c units.
It was calming, peaceful.
It wasn’t, as Simon and Garfunkel noted, a disconnect with humanity but rather an intentional inner connect and pensiveness.
The sound of a mourning dove broke the silence and in the distance a lawn mower started up.
Instead the “Sound of Silence,” this was the sound of summer.
Despite living in a Bolton subdivision, we back onto a forested property, allowing nature to not only coexist but bolster our mood and appreciation.
Over the back fence, mighty trees tower and fall, and the forest floor is overrun by intrusive plants. That’s what nature does when left its on. It grows, moves, climbs and weaves.
Wayne Dyer once observed that everything that’s created comes out of silence. “Your thoughts emerge from the nothingness of silence. Your words come out of this void. Your very essence emerged from emptiness. All creativity requires some stillness.”
According to Muhammad Tuhin (Science News Today), silence is one of the most potent forces in the human experience. It is where emotion brews and the psyche speaks in ways the tongue cannot. Though we live in a world drowning in noise – beeping phones, scrolling feeds, endless talk – we are, at our core, creatures who need silence not just to rest, but to understand, to connect, and even to heal.
Human studies have found that silence activates the brain’s default mode network, the same system that lights up during introspection, imagination, and self-awareness. When external noise recedes, internal clarity increases.
In silence, the prefrontal cortex – our seat of decision-making and social reasoning – has room to engage in deeper processing. You’re not just “not hearing things.” You’re feeling more, analyzing more, being more.
One of the most studied psychological uses of silence is meditation. At its core, meditation is not the absence of thought – it is the conscious embrace of silence.
Brain scans of long-term meditators show increased gray matter in areas responsible for emotional regulation, focus, and compassion. The quiet attention cultivated in meditation doesn’t just calm the mind—it changes its architecture.
In many traditions, silence is sacred. It is the space where insight appears, where ego dissolves, where the mind becomes clear enough to see itself.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said we should all learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose.
We live in the noisiest era in human history. The average person receives hundreds of notifications, messages, and updates per day. Even in physical solitude, we are rarely mentally alone.
This constant stimulation is not benign. Studies show that too much noise – especially digital noise —can lead to increased stress, decreased concentration, and a weakened ability to tolerate stillness.
It’s been said that silence is an integral part of music, the “space” between the notes.
Silence reveals our coping mechanisms, our fears, our fantasies. It shows us whether we feel safe in our own presence.
Psychologists have found that the ability to tolerate silence is directly linked to emotional maturity. Silence also teaches us humility. It reminds us that not everything needs to be said, and not every moment needs to be claimed. It opens the door to curiosity. To wonder. To awe.
In silence, the ego shrinks and the soul expands.
The ultimate silence awaits us all, and for some, it will come sooner than later.
When we close our eyes and drift off, for the very last time, we’re likely surrounded by eternal silence.
But others disagree.
According to the Science News Today Editorial Team, neuroscientists can now observe the brain’s electrical activity as it shuts down, noting that in some cases, bursts of coordinated brain waves appear even in the final moments, almost as if the dying brain briefly lights up before fading into silence. But as precise as this picture is, it does not answer the deeper question. While biology explains how death happens, it cannot say whether consciousness – the subjective experience of being alive – ceases or continues in some other form.
Some philosophers and physicists argue that consciousness may not be reducible to matter. Quantum theories of mind, though controversial, suggest that awareness might be a fundamental property of the universe, woven into the fabric of reality like space and time. If consciousness is not entirely tied to the brain, then death might not extinguish it but transform it.
Perhaps the most provocative evidence in discussions of life after death comes from near-death experiences (NDEs). Across cultures, people who have come close to dying report remarkably similar visions: traveling through tunnels, encountering bright lights, feeling profound peace, or meeting deceased loved ones. These accounts are striking for their consistency and emotional intensity. Many who undergo NDEs return with a transformed perspective on life, convinced that death is not an end but a passage.
Religion offers some reassurance in everlasting life. Just what form that takes is the ultimate mystery.
Only those who have passed know the truth of whether we cease entirely and fade into oblivion, or whether we join particles in the cosmos.
Will this be a noisy or silent transition?
I will find out, as will we all.

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