While I was in Jerusalem, I had the opportunity to visit the Mount of Olives. Many folks will recognize the name from the story of Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem and his arrest. During his very busy week of teaching in the capital city, he was almost constantly surrounded by crowds of people. The Mount of Olives is the spot Jesus retreated to for quiet.
This is a habit we see throughout his lifetime. He walked away from the crowds that followed him for times of peace, silence, and solitude. The Mount of Olives is right across from the city. Jerusalem is built into a hillside, the Kidron Valley is at the base of that mountain, and the Mount of Olives is on the other side. It was very isolated and dark at night, and reaching it from Jerusalem required the traveler to pass through the Kidron Valley, which was called “the Valley of Death” by ancient locals because it was so dark at night (made famous by Psalm 23). Still, Jesus sought out that quiet location.
In our day and age, it might be hard to imagine why someone would walk away from important work that needed to get done, in order to spend time out in the country, in the dark, traveling there on foot, especially if that foot travel required traversing “the Valley of Death” along the way. I believe that the reason for this intentional pursuit of silence and solitude was so that Jesus could spend time in uninterrupted prayer. I also firmly believe that we are designed to live that way.
Specifically, people are designed to spend time in quiet rest on a regular basis. I am not referring to sleep, but rather time spent thinking, reflecting, reading, breathing, etc. A flood of new research in recent years has supported this idea. For example, several studies have discovered a link between higher, constant noise levels and stress in children and adults. Simply put, having a constant level of noise around you increases your body’s production of stress hormones.
The same studies found that silence has the opposite effect. As little as 2 minutes of silence and rest can impact your blood pressure and improve your circulation.
Other research has found that the constant noise and demand for our attention can deplete our mental resources. The idea is that each person has a finite amount of mental energy to expend between periods of rest. Noise and sensory input, like the tv being on in the background or surfing the internet while relaxing or any of the other things that nags for your attention, depletes that energy. Spending time in quiet environments or doing things that demand very little focused attention can replenish those energies. For example, going for a walk in a quiet setting allows your body to lower its guard because it’s not watching the constant sensory inputs monitoring for danger.
One study found that silence allows the brain to engage in “self-generated cognition”, which is basically daydreaming or allowing our brains to wander. This is a built in function of our brains that allows us to make connections between ideas and experiences giving meaning and deeper understanding to the world around us. It essentially makes us content and happier because our brains naturally digest things while they are idle.
Another amazing ability our brains have is the ability to use quiet times to generate new brain cells. Studies have found that spending 2 hours a day in a quiet environment results in the brain generating new cells and restricting itself. This can reduce depression and improve memory.
The reason these things are important is because true silence is relatively rare in our culture. Our phones ring, our tv calls out to us, machines make noise, etc. There are a million things vying for our attention constantly. In fact, many folks become addicted to the constant distraction to the point that they glance at their phones every few minutes or have to have the tv on for background noise to feel comfortable. This is the opposite of how we were designed.
