Alex
Professor Greenbaum
May 5, 2016
Reflection on the Moment of Silence
I truly believe that the moment of silence was a benefit to me as a student and as an individual. As it was the only true moment of silence I have in my hectic life. When I walk to and from classes I am listening to music or podcasts. When I am in my dorm I am speaking with friends or watching movies. When I am exercising I am listing to my trainer’s instruction. When I go to bed I am listening to audiobooks until I go to sleep. My life is one of complete and total stimulation during every waking minute of my life. While I am incredibly grateful for the fact that I can be constantly entertained and never have to experience a dull moment in my day to day life I do find myself being deprived of any real time to reflect on how I am really feeling. Although I am always peripherally aware of my mood, it never really is on the forefront of my mind. Instead of being a constant thought I find myself gravitating to for reflection my mood is more of a feeling that underlies my actions and movements throughout the day; somewhat invisibly.
The moment of silence allows me a brief minute to actually think as I have no other place to direct my attention. I must reflect on how I am feeling in my life for a short period of time, twice a week. This small moment in which I have a brief silence in my day may seem incredibly irrelevant in the scheme of my life; however, that could not be any less true. The moment of silence opens my mind to parts of my life I do not regularly think about and allows me to access some of my more subconscious motives and desires. This moment does not only last a minute to me. Instead the moment of silence follows me throughout the day. I very often find myself thinking about what I thought about during the moment of silence as I tune out my audiobooks or podcasts. I can see myself in a way that I would otherwise not be able to see due to the moment of silence and for that reason alone I am incredibly grateful for the moment of silence before each class and strongly believe that nearly everyone could benefit from devoting a small amount of time to just thinking a few times a week.
Alexander
Minute of silence:
Before every class, a minute of silence is shared between all students in the class. This moment gives students a brief time to reflect on whatever they choose without interruption of life in general. It gives everyone a chance to take a short break from their busy days, enabling a typically much needed peace of mind.
I believe this concept is very helpful to virtually any human being, not to mention a busy collegiate student. As a mechanical biomedical engineering student, I personally am significantly impacted by this small opportunity each day; I appreciate every spare moment throughout my day and I certainly appreciate this singular minute every few days at the beginning of Modern Judaism.
Outside of class, I attempt to meditate as often as possible in order to center myself and allow for a deeper spiritual connection to myself. Because I have a relatively busy schedule, I sometimes go days or even weeks without having the chance to meditate. The minute of silence in the beginning of class allows for not only a brief spiritual enlightenment, but additionally a reminder of the importance of silence and reflection in life.
William
A minute of silence before class serves multiple helpful purposes. It works to quiet the mind, cease the chaos, eliminate distractions, and most importantly, requires us to be present. The development of technologies such as iPhones demands us to be stimulated all day long; if we’re bored, we automatically turn to our phones as a source of entertainment. It is hard for us to merely sit with ourselves and our thoughts and be content. Simple moments of silence are quickly eradicated by the accessibility of technological distractions. Although our society is very advanced in some ways, our ability to make interpersonal connections has been negatively impacted. We are able to hide behind the anonymity of our cell phones and laptops, never having to talk on the phone or meet face to face. Don’t get me wrong, technology has allowed us to connect with people from across the globe like never before; but it has inhibited our ability to foster the connections we make with the people that are physically around us. A minute of silence two days a week during a one semester course cannot totally solve our lack of connection, but it can help to remind us that we must work on connecting with ourselves (which will lead us to make better connections with the people around us). A minute of silence reminds us to be present and be conscious of the very moment we are in. I think it’s a very important and very basic concept that people have long forgotten. A minute of silence helps us to start to connect with our consciousness and serves as a reminder to sit back and really be in the moment that is presently occurring without reaching for some other superficial method of meaning.
Hannah
A minute of silence is used in many situations either it is to meditate and reflect on oneself, to take a break/ rest, to give respect to someone, or to simply stop and listen to the environment. It gives people, not only students to mentally adjust to their surroundings and plan in order to go about their future actions. Out of the many reasons why a minute of silence is used, I was able to utilize the minute of silence for some of the same reasons.
The minute of silence was a great idea in which gave me the opportunity to physically calm my heart and clear my mind from what was going on before the class began. It was very interesting to see that there was always a “mandatory” minute of silence at the beginning of the class session because I had never in my educational career, been able to start a class in such routine. This idea is a very productive and unique idea that should be recommended for other classes and subjects as well.
Usually in the beginning of any lecture, there are so many thoughts that go through my mind. Either it was from rushing to get to class or having thoughts about an upcoming exam or assignment, I was able to physically calm my body so that I would be prepared for the upcoming class. At times, I had utilized the minute of silence to make a short silent prayer. From the reading that we had from the beginning of the semester, it was stated that we do not have complete control over our mind; our stomachs seem to have more of a brain and control of itself compared to us and our ability to control our brain. The minute of silence gives us the opportunity to gradually clear our minds or to focus on getting ready for what is to come in a short amount of time.
Though the minute of silence was an excellent idea, there were moments where I was not able to utilize the minute of silence for its purpose. Unfortunately, during some of the moments of silences, there were many distractions that prevented me from utilizing the minute for its purpose. People would be coming in and out of the room, phones would go off, and the temperature/weather would hinder my ability to correctly calm my heart and mind. As a result, the minute of silence was not very beneficial and did not truly make a difference. Had the minute started a few minutes following the start of class and/or after everyone had settled down, that would have produced a more conducive environment to utilize the minute fully.
Due to the fact that we had consistently had the minute of silence at the beginning of class, I had wished that it was either a few minutes longer and also implemented at the very end of class. As a result of it being utilized to “become one with our mind”, had we been able to have a minute of silence also at the very end of class, I would have been able to reflect on what I had learned in class and be prepared for the rest of my day.
All in all, I believe that the minute of silence was a great strategy and mechanism that was implemented into a routine in order to help calm my mind of what had gone before the start of class. It was an excellent way to filter out all the negative thoughts that was going on in my mind, and was also a way for me to understand the silence and be able to hear my surrounding environment. As it is a religion class, I was able to bring peace to my mind and heart, meditate on my feelings and ideas. Reflecting back to what I had gained from the minute of silences, I truly feel that it was beneficial and an idea that I could use personally for the future.