Mark Rothko
This quote appealed this morning as I turn my mind towards the second book of Silences. Silence can be, and is, so many things to so many people, and I really wonder about this one.
The accuracy of silence. I think that sometimes yes it is accurate, true and correct. That the silence is all that is needed, that it is the complete response or the complete way of being.
But sometimes I really do think that silence can be misinterpreted as well; its accuracy mislaid; its meaning misconstrued.
I think of the times when I am taken aback and am thinking, thinking, processing, processing; and my silence could appear to be all manner of things. At those times my silence is mostly just thinking time, an attempt to formulate a response; sometimes an effort to put a lid on what I might want to blurt; and to craft a gentler more reasonable response.
In those moments I am not ignoring the person, I'm not dismissing them. It is no power play or trap; I'm simply processing and getting a handle on my own emotions.
At other time our silence is perfect. Sitting alongside someone who is troubled, letting them know they have been heard, that we are in this together, that I am not trying to fix things or to resolve things or cheer them up. The silence of acknowledgement is accurate.
From Pas de Deux 10 - Silences. Susan Bowers and Fiona Dempster 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I appreciate your thoughts and comments; thanks for taking the time.