silence
The silence (from Old High German stilli: without movement, calm, without noise) describes in the German language the perceived silence, absence of any noise, but also immobility. Its colloquial enhancement is the dead silence. Opposite terms are noise , noise and the like. Silence is related in meaning, but must be distinguished from silence .
The verb “to breastfeed ” is derived from the word “silence” , since the infant becomes calm while drinking.
Effect of silence on people
Complete silence without any reflection , such as those in a camera silens there is uncomfortable and scary, especially because of the lack of acoustic orientation in space, longer lasting it leads to sensory deprivation , which is due to lack of external stimuli to hallucinations and thought disorders can occur. It is even used in interrogation, torture ( white torture ), and brainwashing.
Because of the absence of annoying noises, silence in the sense of a calm environment can have a calming effect, increase concentration on an activity, productivity and well-being, and support religious feelings. Humans are at the mercy of noises, they act in their background noise . The sense of hearing cannot be consciously influenced or switched off for humans, one cannot get used to noise. Silence is a basic condition for many activities or states of consciousness :
- Activities that are primarily based on the sense of hearing often require silence, although they themselves disturb the silence: making music , making calls , etc.
- Silence is also a prerequisite for the concentration of the human brain during intense thought processes. Educators assume that silence is more conducive to learning than distracting noises.
- Likewise, silence is offered in libraries so as not to disturb concentration on reading .
- Silence is a basic condition for states of relaxation (e.g. autogenic training ). Background noise disturbs relaxation, reflection and tranquility ( contemplation ). Therefore, silence plays an important role in religion and meditation .
Silence can symbolize the premonition of an approaching (negative) event ("the calm before the storm") or the confrontation with the possibility of one's own death . The conscious use of silence in plays , films or as a rhetorical element when delivering speeches or poems is used to dramaturgically increase the tension.
The marketing says the silence after a consumer-inflammatory effect. In order to motivate consumption , the silence in sales rooms is often covered with background music .
In literary terms, particularly silent situations were described as “grave silence” or “dead silence” (not to be confused with the legal term of dead peace ), since various very quiet moments were associated with the atmosphere of a deserted cemetery or a tomb .
Importance of silence in religion
In many religions, for example in Buddhism and Taoism , great importance is attached to silence, especially when the priest or the believer have to concentrate, for example during silent prayer and meditation .
In the liturgy of the Catholic Church , after the liturgy reform as a result of the Second Vatican Council, silence plays a role as a separate element, for example before the confession of guilt, after the readings and the sermon, during the preparation of gifts and after communion . In the Great Intercessions, believers pray for rest in their own lives.
In the pietism of the 18th century, silence was discovered as a mystical element of piety . In connection with Luther's translation “ And seek wrong things aries the quiet in the country ” ( Ps 35,20 LUT ) one withdrew consciously and clearly articulated from the prevailing contemporary culture “into the quiet corner”. The Pietists, known as the “quiet in the country”, found their basis in the Christianity Society founded in 1780 . Today's common terms of devotional or silent prayer come from this movement.
Anchorists made use of the effect of silence in order to be able to concentrate on large spiritual contexts.
The Quakers lived since the mid-17th century their worship in the form of a silent prayer that normally runs without songs, readings and sermons. Away from the restlessness of everyday life, those present try to entrust themselves to the guidance of the spirit. While waiting together attentively in silence, they become calm inside, recognize what makes the meaning of life for them and experience joy and wonder about creation. In silence, they come to accept themselves for who they are and free themselves from fear, anxiety, emotional disorder and selfishness. Insofar as they feel internally urged to do so, some of the silence allow the others to take part in what moves them. The silence usually lasts an hour. In it, newlyweds make their pledge of loyalty, newborn children are recommended to the group and the deceased are remembered. In Africa, North and South America, other forms of devotion with liturgical elements such as prayers spoken together have developed.
"In silence"
The phrase "quietly" in burials (also "without song and sound") expressed initially that an elaborate funeral with accompanying death knell and chant did not take place, perhaps because it was unable to pay for these services, or to Bestattende no legal right had on it. At present, it is used to describe a less complex burial in a small circle.
Modifications or artistic inclusion experienced the formulation in
- In all silence (album) , album title
- In all silence. B for Bruch , Sue Grafton, novel title
- In all silence (film) , television film
Silence as a theme in art
The rarity of silence in nature has made it the subject of numerous different interpretations, for example in Eva Strittmatter's volume of poems Ich mach ein Lied aus Stille (1973) or in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Wanderer's Night Song :
“ Above all peaks there
is peace,
In all the
peaks you
hardly feel a breath;
The birds are silent in the forest.
Just wait, you will soon
rest too. "
Many forms of silence - differentiated according to place or time of occurrence - became the subject of the poetry :
- Mountain silence (Goethe: Wanderer's Night Song );
- Sea calm ( Joseph von Eichendorff : sea calm );
- Calm ( Arnfrid Astel : " WINDstille | in the midday heat. | The quaking grass | does not tremble | in front of its shadow. ");
- Winter silence ( Friedrich Hebbel : Winter-Landschaft : “ The white surface expands endlessly, | empty down to the last breath of life; | the lively pulses have long stalled, the brooks, | even the cold wind is no longer stirring. "), even in the sense of dormancy needed.
The times of day in particular are described as specific types of silence:
- Morning silence ( Korea was poetically often called "the land of morning silence");
- Midday silence ( Theodor Storm : Offside : " It's so quiet; the heather lies | In the warm midday sunshine " - see also the " panic horror");
- Evening silence ( Fritz Jöde : evening silence everywhere : " There is silence all around, the forest is silent, the day's run is complete ");
- Night silence ( Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock : The early graves : “ Welcome, oh silver moon, | Beautiful, quiet vehicle of the night! ” Robert Prutz : Night silence ).
In Friedrich Nietzsche's Also Spoke Zarathustra , the silence is a topic several times: The greatest events - these are not our loudest, but our quietest hours (Part 2, Chapter On Great Events ); and: It is the quietest words that bring the storm. Thoughts that come with pigeon feet guide the world. (Part 3, chap .: The quietest hour ).
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In the fine arts , a still life is the image of a lifeless and motionless arrangement of objects.
Especially in new music , the preoccupation with the definition of music has also led to an intensive examination of the subject of silence. It is a gradual phenomenon that can only be associated with "soundlessness" in the absolute state, if it is more than a metaphysical idea. By far the best-known example is John Cage's piano piece 4'33 " . It consists of three sentences that consist only of pauses , which have a total length of four minutes and thirty-three seconds. The idea of a “music of silence” - here again in a figurative sense - has inspired other composers, such as Frederic Mompou . In other areas of the musical avant-garde , too , in the context of multimedia sound installations and performances , but especially ambient music, there was and is an examination of silence. In the related genre lowercase , their use is essential.
Marcel Marceau characterized pantomime as the "art of silence".
Silence in a technical context
Both the radio silence , the regular interruption of radio traffic to receive emergency calls, and the pause in transmission during which the television or radio stations do not transmit a signal for technical or program- related reasons have found their way into everyday language as metaphors in which they on the one hand avoid conversation and contact, on the other hand, express the expectation of silence.
See also
- Standstill , stop ,
- Confidentiality ( confidentiality )
- Tacet , Silentium
- Still waters , closure
- Shackles (immobilization)
- Room of silence , yoga of silence
Web links
- Literature by and about silence in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Swiss Transport Club ( Memento from April 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Glossary in "Let your life speak - Quaker peace certificates in our time." Bad Pyrmont 2009
- ↑ Attila Kornel: "Tief unter uns nur Schweigen." - The aesthetics of silence in Udo Zimmermann's chamber opera "White Rose", in: Die Tonkunst, magazine for classical music and musicology, vol. 11, no. 3, July 2017, p 368-377.