I just discovered the Write Anything blog and the Friday writing challenges that they put forward. Each week, a prompt is given and then on Friday, participants are asked to post on their own blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. Nice idea.
So looking ahead, the prompt due for February 4 is as follows:
People lie with silence as well as with words.
Tell about a time when your character “told” a lie by keeping silent about something important.
In the usual way that things come together in my mind (not that it makes sense to anyone but me necessarily), I thought of a discussion I had with a client recently. In a meeting, someone brought up a sensitive topic and threw a provocative idea on the table, and then…silence. No one came to the rescue. No one spoke up. The silence killed the topic. But did it finalize it? Or did it become one more of those things that can’t be spoken of and will never be resolved or discussed or whatever?
When I facilitate meetings, I don’t rush to fill empty space. Sometimes people are uncomfortable with this, and I can see darting eyes and questioning glances. Silence, which is the absence of sound, is valuable during strategy sessions. It allows for contemplation and the generation of ideas, and it also can reveal leadership and character of those who do choose to fill the gap.
Sometimes silence exists because people choose not to speak, they refuse. Reasons vary, but in situations like the one I mention above, silence can become a verb. The comment could have silenced the participants. Hushed them. Stunned them. Silenced them. And, perhaps, it silenced any objection or criticism or opposition.
Rather powerful for empty space.
But there is power in silence. At least that is what I believe and what I have read in terms of spirituality, contemplation, and meditation. To me, achieving a silent mind is not about emptiness. Instead, I see it as being abundantly full. Filling my vessel with all that can’t be heard. With all that doesn’t require sound.
And speaking of silence and sound, my mind takes me to modern classical music and the long moments of silence in musical pieces. John Cage is a wizard at this. But honestly, I can find it difficult to hear the beauty sometimes. It makes me uncomfortable because I don’t think I know what’s going on. Much like those folks with darting eyes in my meetings.
Which brings me all the way back to the writing prompt and using silence to lie. I am working on a variety of short pieces and will have to contemplate if and how this may fit. I may just have to come up with something new altogether.
You’ll have to wait until Friday.
