Quiet, please!

Without much fear of contradiction, I can easily say that the modern Sri Lankan seems to find it impossible to enjoy silence.

Noise has become our national pastime. We are surrounded by noise.

And, if we aren't, we surround ourselves with it. We have to have music in our restaurants, in our stores, and even in our elevators. Most of us turn on the radio or television as soon as we get up in the morning and as soon as we get home from work, never turning it off until we leave the house or go to bed, and sometimes not even then, choosing to fall asleep to the television's soundtrack rather than drifting off in the darkness and silence.

Most people are simply used to a lot of noise, and cannot relax in silence. For others it's an escape, a way to avoid examining their own lives.

As long as they have some noise going on every minute of every day from the time they get up in the morning until they go to sleep at night, the days pass, if not painlessly, at least unexamined.

Our best known and respected authorities - whether social, political or religious- are people with a way with words: "gifted people!" That is how people identify them. So the theory is obvious. On the whole, we do not value silence in our modern lives.

But in the same East where we live in, some thousands of years ago it was a different story. The religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism have cultivated an appreciation for silence as essential to the spiritual life.

Yoga and meditation were best done in total silence. The most spiritual people- like the gurus, the bhikkhus, and the Zen Masters - were people of very few words.

Talking of religions - one of the few things I've learned to an absolutely certainty is that the best religious language is always closer to poetry than to prose; but the real language is silence: not the silence that is merely the absence of words or sound or noise: and not the cold silence that can be used as a passive medium in human relationships: but the positive silence that can take us within, to that place where we can hear that 'still small voice' of which the Psalmist in the Bible speaks.

In day-to-day life, there is a lot to be said for 'going into the silence' and finding the answer for ourselves, for who should know better than ourselves... our inner consciousness, and to connect with it we need to temporarily detach ourselves from the noise and distraction of everyday life.

Although it is unfashionable to do so these days 'going into thesilence' can teach us so much about ourselves and can be comforting in times of difficulty. If we can allow ourselves a space to do so it is a very simple exercise.

As a Working Director in a private company for many, many years, I have come across the situation many times in my working week, where someone will come to me for advice. When I have given them what has come to me, it is very common for them to often say "that's exactly what I thought! I'm so glad that you said that because now I know that I must be right!" What they come for is confirmation, because they have lost the ability to believe in themselves, to believe that they really know the answers.

'Going into the silence' means a short break while cutting down the distractions of everyday life as much as you can, and living in a simple and comfortable way whilst focusing on the problems in hand. If you can find an oasis of healing silence in the midst of your busy day, you will find yourself refreshed and recharged. Our lives are busy, the world is noisy and it will stay noisy.

Spending time in silence can help you recognize your finer points within yourself so that you can return to that calmness anytime you need it.

I have found out myself that meditation is a wonderful tool for inner working, and even a single day of meditative practices combined with a very light and green diet and time and space to be by yourself in pleasant surroundings, will often bring up thoughts and ideas that might delight and surprise you!

It is a universal truth, that we have within us all the wisdom ever needed to face any problem or any catastrophe during our lives. What we simply have to do is to create the space and time to 'go within' to access that wisdom.

I call this process 'wisdom through silence.'