Blog 6 : Into Great Silence

Seeing the film on Thursday really opened up my eyes, and gave me a completely different view of the word silence. If you’re like me, it is hard to remember the last time you experienced complete silence. Silence is hard to come by these days, and with all the new forms of technology it will only get worse. Between cell phones, ipods, and computers, we have come up with plenty of ways to disregard silence in our lives. The movie was interesting because it gives you a look into the lives of people who basically, live in complete silence. One particular scene from the movie stands out in my mind. Two of the monks were getting dressed in their uniforms, and they were literally standing inches away from one another. They weren’t saying a word. I can’t recall the last time I was standing inches away from someone I was familiar with and not saying anything. In today’s world, our lives are always filled with conversation, jokes, and small talk just to fill in that silence. You even hear people refer to the word silence as awkward, or they will say ‘that was an awkward silence.’ In our lives today, we don’t value silence. It was an eye opening experience to see the lives of people who put a great value on silence, and take advantage of the benefits silence can provide.