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The healing power of silence - Magical Realist - Oct 13, 2026
“Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing. […] Personally I find nothing upsetting about silence at all. In fact it can’t get too quiet for me.”
--William S. Burroughs
This quote comes from “The Job,” although Burroughs expressed his belief that silence was important many times. He of course believed that language was a virus and that this meant people were compulsively verbalising—not only speaking aloud but with an internal voice. As words essentially controlled people, silence was resistance to that control. He believed silence was highly beneficial, perhaps even leading to the cure of certain diseases, and would try to sit silently and halt his “subvocal speech” whenever possible."
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"We live in a world that doesn’t stop talking. Notifications ding, podcasts play on a loop, TVs run in the background, and even when we’re alone, we fill the quiet with noise. For many of us, silence feels uncomfortable, even unbearable. If you can’t eat a meal without the television on, can’t read without music in the background, or can’t stand the sound of your own thoughts in the car, this blog is for you.
The question is: what does that restlessness around silence really mean? And more importantly, what is it costing us?
The Science of Silence
Most people think silence is simply the absence of noise, but to your brain, it’s an active healing state. Studies found that just two hours of silence a day promoted new cell growth in the hippocampus, the region responsible for memory and emotional regulation. Other research shows even a few minutes of quiet lowers blood pressure, reduces cortisol, and allows the nervous system to shift out of fight-or-flight into repair mode.
Silence isn’t emptiness though, it’s medicine."
https://elissagoodman.com/health/the-healing-power-of-silence-why-quiet-time-might-be-the-most-overlooked-wellness-tool/