My experience of Mouna (Silence): Why should you do it?
(Note: This article is from August 2, 2019)
We talk so much every day, conducting meaningless and unnecessary conversation without really watching the mind and trying to understand ourselves. Mouna is a way to watch the river of thoughts, while you are standing on the banks. Mouna means Silence; or in more practical terms, a vow of silence. It can be done for any period of time, from an hour to a day to a week.
My mom introduced me to this concept, I would see her genuinely committing herself to this period of introspection and clarity. For a whole day, she would not utter a single word. The only way she could respond to me was with basic movements, but she steered away from human interaction for a more spiritual experience. I would ask her how she felt during the day and she would simply smile. She seemed at peace and carefree.
My momma and me :)
I had to challenge myself to do it, and I decided to do so because I was so irritated with my speech mannerisms. Being an extremely outgoing person, making sarcastic jokes and expressing my unfortunate brash demeanor in social settings was the norm for me. So, I wanted to put myself through a gruesome test that would challenge me and ultimately help me become more graceful and thoughtful…
The day had come- I woke up early and walked to the dining room where my family greeted me and continued conversation. After noticing that I was not talking for a while, they came up to me and asked if I was okay. Bruh. I gave them an earnest look, and it finally occurred to them that they had actually forgotten that their ONLY son was doing Mouna today. IS IT THAT HARD GUYS? They gawkily apologized and embarassingly congratulated me on doing something beneficial for myself… which made me sigh because I could not dissolve the awkwardness with some Chandler- like sarcasm. I was trapped, I goofily remember myself thinking. The day went on with me just lazing around, going on my phone, reading a bit and looking at nature cornily hoping that I would have an instant spiritual epiphany. The most spiritually yielding part of the day, however, was the constant interaction with my mother.
I did not really feel peaceful or spiritual, but just watching my mind race was very interesting because as my mother kept talking I would naturally respond in my head what I would have said out loud and then I would think about the purpose of that comment and whether it would have helped more than hurt either of us and trust me, about 90% was BS. Then I noticed my mind averting to all the speech-impaired people in this world and what their lives must be like and felt a lot of compassion for them.
I gained a new perspective on being silent and realized that it is a whole experience in itself: not only is it bearable, but maybe even preferred. Not a lot has to be explicitly spoken in this world, because communication is more genuine and real without words. Facial expressions and hand gestures make one seem so simple, candid and authentic- basic humane values that seem to get lost in this noisy and needlessly complex world.
In fact, my mother showed me so much love that day, constantly embracing me and expressing that she was thankful for me and the journey we have been on. I guess it had something to do with the absence of constant futile words and presence of simplistic natural expressions. I noticed how much love I was missing out on by being so unnecessary vocal and verbal.
I want to urge you all to try it, I do not know how it will affect you but I do know it is worth experiencing. It does not even have to be for a day, maybe even just an hour or two.
PS I gave up at around 6 PM as my family and I were sitting on the rooftop sipping tea and I felt left out of the conversation and felt an urgent need to ATLEAST hum along with the song playing in the background (hehe). Finally, I let out quite a majestic, head-splitting howl to conclude a truly eclectic experience.
