Thoughts and points of consideration on silence

[Rabi'ya]

I watched this programme on Iplayer the other day as I find these kind of programmes interesting.

Its basically about a bunch of people from various backgrounds who feel that they are not content with their life. something bigger is missing. Anyway, some of them are from a religious(christian) background who may have lost faith and some are non believers. They follow a path of self-discovery throught the means of silence and silent contemplation and reflection. the majority of then participants said that by the end of their 8 day silence in a retreat in North Wales they has come close to God and felt that they now believed in something bigger (ie, God)

I wonder what points we can take from this. About how reflection, self criticism and coming to terms with emotions deep inside can help us to be better people and get closer to Allah.

2 episodes still available if anyone does want to watch it. Its not completely Christian based but is to draw people closer to the existence of God and the feeling that there is something more to life than pure dunya.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vjcp5/The_Big_Silence_Episode_1/

 

[Ramadhan]

I wonder what points we can take from this. About how reflection, self criticism and coming to terms with emotions deep inside can help us to be better people and get closer to Allah.

Prophet Muhammad SAW used to go alone to cave Hiraa for a number of days every year to do some reflection before Jibreel sent down to him bringing the quran.
So we know there is value in going into "reflection" and "silence", especially into the nature from time to time as long as we don't overdo it.

 

[marwen]

^ I agree ! calm reflection can help us find out new understanding of our life, and increase our faith.

It's said that kids who are silent most of the time are found to be more intelligent than other kids. Although active silence (with reflection) is very beneficial, a passive silence (silence without reason) could be a sign of psychological problems (depression) or stupidity.