How to sink into silence

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How often do you find silence? And do you know what to do with it when you do? Today’s guest is essayist and travel writer Pico Iyer. His latest book is Aflame: Learning From Silence, which recounts his experiences living at a Catholic monastery in California after losing his home in a fire. He speaks with Sean about the restorative power of silence, and how being quiet can prepare us for a busy and overstimulated world. Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling) Guest: Pico Iyer, writer and author of Aflame: Learning From Silence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:16.6	This episode is brought to you by Vanta.
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0:40.1	Head to vanta.com slash Spotify to learn more.
0:44.8	How often do you find silence?
0:47.7	I mean real silence.
0:50.1	It's always been hard, but in today's world, the clamor of technology and distractions is unrelenting.
0:56.0	And there's a part of us that likes this, that wants to be distracted, wants to be diverted, wants to be
1:02.0	occupied by someone or something, which means that when we do actually find a bit of silence, we don't always know what to do with it. Here, I'll show you what I mean.
1:13.7	Let's have a moment of silence together.
1:26.1	So, what happened?
1:28.4	Did you think about your to-do list?
1:30.2	Did you worry?
1:31.5	Did you panic?
1:32.8	Did you almost switch to another podcast?
	...

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