Have you really explored silence?

There are some 20 different types of silence in the Buddhist tradition.

Experiencing them may help you with boredom.

And maybe even help our online world be less busy.

Take a 5 Minute Break…

INSIGHT ^{_{(what we need)}}

Silence has multifaceted dimensions that create space for transformative potential.

I met a fascinating individual on travels recently who relayed colorful stories of a very full, successful life. He was a serial entrepreneur who had started and sold several companies, a self-taught crypto mining farm builder, financier, wellness author, professional DJ, and recreational pilot. But his bucket list was far from complete — with ambitious goals to earn enough money to go to space and see the penguins in Antarctica. Oh, and he signed up to cryo his whole body to make sure he could experience more things beyond this lifetime. I sat fascinated by his ambition and love of adventure and then he said something surprising, “The problem is boredom. I get so bored. And then anxious or depressed, depending on the weather.” 

Checking boxes and filling voids. 
I playfully chuckled at this explorer of the world who wanted so badly to go to outer space but was aware yet unwilling to navigate his inner silence. For instance, he had cancelled a mindfulness circle the day before because he was “too sick to meditate”. And the boredom was palpable — often witnessing a glaze in his eyes while I droned on about topics that were likely boring to him and noticed his impatience to move on to the next topic or activity. Switching gears to a relatable topic (his wellness book), he explained his thesis of needing to ‘get addicted to well-being’ by accruing performative points towards an ultimate peak of happiness. Successfully ticking the boxes on a linear progression to acquire new levels of health.

Now, before it sounds like I am being critical of this individual, that’s not my intention. He opened my eyes to things I was putting blinders up to in my life that he had fully embraced. In fact, we felt like life messengers in this chance meeting of opposites. I mention him because of a common observation in the industry of performance: that of acquisition rather than inquisition. He is not alone in the paradox of pursuit when it comes to ‘being better’ — as we do need a sense of progression to change behavior. And metrics can be extremely helpful in marking our progress. However, it can also ruin the whole point.

20ish Forms of Silence. 
By chance, I was reading a book “Thoughts Without a Thinker” during these travels that blew my mind to the notion that there were around 21 different forms of silence in the SE Asian Buddhist tradition. There is no single codified Buddhist text translated into English that explicitly details these different forms — for they are spread across various sutras, commentaries and interpretations. However, after this chance encounter with our successful Explorer, accumulating so many quantifiable success metrics, I was immediately drawn to the qualitative dimensions of silence. And what it would mean to become a navigator of that beautiful void we all have access to, no matter who we are or what we’ve achieved.  

Regular Silence vs. Noble Silence
I learned that silence takes on its form from the experiencer. Meaning, there could be far more than 21 forms. The important observation is between regular silence of every day and transcendental silence that emerges from practice. More common forms might include things like the silence of coldness and avoidance (when a person closes off to another and gets quiet). Or the silence of confusion (when your mind spins and can’t find the words). There’s the silence of forgetfulness or not knowing (when we withhold words because we don’t have them). But also the silence of things hidden or feared (when we hold back because we are afraid). Then there’s that silence of indifference or boredom itself (when we can’t be bothered to fill space). This is every day silence. 

Noble silence is non-reactive. 
This is when we just listen without judgement. Or hold our words while enduring accusations or negativity. We can be silent in appreciation when we are deeply touched and words cannot replace feeling. There’s the silence between thoughts when we are being receptive or meditative. Many different dimensions of silence are experienced in stillness itself: holding stillness, concentrated alertness, allowing others to be, enjoying our solitude, or appreciating the many layers of life around us in wonder. There’s also the silence we experience when we can rest our being in the company of others. Many many different forms can be perceived — even the deeper silence of seeing moments within moments. And of course, that ultimate silence of transcendence.

Here are 21 different forms of silence in Buddhism:

1. Physical Silence: Abstaining from speech as a discipline.

2. Mental Silence: Cultivating stillness of the mind, free from discursive thought.

3. Meditative Silence: Entering deep states of meditative absorption (jhana) where words and concepts cease.

4. Ethical Silence: Avoiding harmful or unnecessary speech (Right Speech in the Noble Eightfold Path).

5. Compassionate Silence: Refraining from speaking to avoid causing harm or misunderstanding.

6. Sacred Silence: Revering profound truths that cannot be captured in words.

7. Discursive Silence: Restraining the internal chatter of the mind.

8. Relational Silence: Holding space for others without the need to speak.

9. Receptive Silence: Actively listening with a still mind.

10. Emotive Silence: Sitting with emotions without verbalizing them.

11. Contemplative Silence: Pausing to reflect deeply without interference.

12. Empty Silence: Experiencing the emptiness (shunyata) of concepts and phenomena.

13. Ceremonial Silence: Observing quiet during rituals.

14. Communal Silence: Group silence during retreats or shared meditation.

15. Non-Reactive Silence: Choosing not to respond to provoke reflection or awareness.

16. Observational Silence: Watching nature or life mindfully without verbal labels.

17. Silence of Awareness: Being fully present without cognitive commentary.

18. Transcendental Silence: Experiencing enlightenment beyond the dualities of sound and silence.

19. Mystical Silence: Embracing ineffable experiences of the ultimate reality.

20. Silence of Interdependence: Acknowledging the interconnectedness of all beings without asserting individuality.

21. Ultimate Silence: Realizing Nirvana, where all conditioned phenomena, including speech and thought, dissolve.

Louder and Busy, not Quieter and Still
The world is getting noisier with distractions and information. Though I have my reservations of how artificial intelligence will influence not only human behavior but our humanness, I do see the opportunity in outsourcing much of our ‘busyness’ to machines. There could be a horizon where #nowork is a reality – where trading skills for money takes on new form. Perhaps this opens up the doors for us to be silent and still more often. And even integrates expanded concepts to our digitized language models that begin to understand the necessity of silence in a world that’s getting rackety.

INSPIRATION ^{_{(what i want)}}

Osmo: digitizing our oldest and deepest sense (smell) to improve human well-being. 

Though not about silence, I mention this ‘related world’ of codifying our senses to improve life through the complex art and science of scent. This service brings together frontier AI, olfactory science, and perfumery to map the molecules related to smell. 

• A world-class multidisciplinary research team spanning machine learning, sensory neuroscience, data science, engineering, fine fragrance, analytical chemistry, and product development come together to generate smells with computers the same way images and sounds are generated. 

• Scent is codified through neural networks and molecular mapping to predict smell from its chemical structure.

• New molecules can then be created at a predictive level with superhuman accuracy so that we may design different molecules that are more responsive than traditional scents (for instance: non-toxic insect repellent).

• Working with partners in commerce, industry, social health, government, and entertainment & retail to develop novel, safe and sustainable aromas for a function that is currently met through toxic or wasteful alternatives. 

• From pest control, to threat detection, to human health or personalized nostalgia, Osmo is designing scent and pushing the boundaries of olfactory innovation with intention and care. (Let’s hope it stays that way!!)

INNOVATION ^{_{(what i wish for)}}

Wordless: learning and mapping the human experience of silence.

A retreat experience to codify how the body-brain reshapes to perceptions of quietude in order to expand the scope of these experiences in our language - both human and machine - so that we may be less bored and busy.  

• A 10-day silent retreat where participants are guided through different experiences of stillness and activity in silence. 

• Unlike other silent retreats that operate mostly in stillness, this experience is highly crafted to take participants through different themes with human and augmented guidance to help grasp the type of silence they are exploring.

• From creative expression to soundscapes, from cultural practices to confrontation exercises, from relational group work to movement integration, daily activities in silence enhance the contemplative and transformative potential of silence within the participants. 

• Participants are also given lightweight form-fitting biofeedback devices to trace their heart rate variability, brainwave activity,  and nervous system response to capture data on their states during each activity. Linking perceptual descriptors to biological markers.

• Post-silence reflection circles offer structured sharing where participants articulate their experiences through personal and shared insights, further integrating and deepening their relationship to silence each day. 

• Participants’ physiological and conceptual experiences of silence become digitized and codified to give Ai models a sense of the importance of wordless meaning making in our computerized quest to constantly “solve” problems — offering predictive reasoning to slow down or be silent as options.