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COTT Dialogue: Is silence golden, scary or powerful?
We are all familiar with the saying that “silence is golden”, but it often just means better to keep your mouth shut rather than put your foot in it.
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Participants and organizers of the COTT Dialogue join a group photo after the event, held Nov. 16-19, 2023, at the ARMA Resort and Museum, Ubud, Bali. (COTT Dialogue /organizing committee)
W
hat are the things that people fear the most? I found several lists, ranging from the most common and well-known ones like public speaking, heights, snakes, rats, spiders and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI).
But there are many more odd and funny things I had never heard of, including potnonomicaphobia – the fear of potatoes! Well, I never! Imagine running away screaming from a bowl of mashed potatoes!
But not one of these lists mentions the fear of silence.
Silence? Why would silence be scary?
In social situations, silence can seem tense or awkward, implicitly suggesting judgment or rejection. Personally, silence may cause your deep inner feelings, and heaven forbid – your true or higher self - to emerge, which could mean going against the stream. After all, isn’t it easier to be “ordinary” and be one of the crowd?
We are conditioned to live in a noisy, cacophonous world, to the extent that silence becomes like a dark void to be avoided. It’s not just the external babble, but the noise in us, within our cluttered minds that ultimately doesn’t allow us to see, think or act clearly and prevents us from knowing who we really are.
We are all familiar with the saying that “silence is golden”, but it often just means better to keep your mouth shut rather than put your foot in it.
