Silence is a positive, a reality, and language has the power to make assertions about all reality.

Evidence

The World of Silence by Max Picard (Goodreads)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Silence is a positive, self-contained reality rather than mere absence. — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 19; Silence is real, as darkness and cold are real; we feel these as positive sensations, not merely negations of something else. — In Praise of Silence; Silence is nothing merely negative; it is not the mere absence of speech, but has a kind of Being of its own. — The Being of Silence (+19 more)

Related

• Silence is a primary, objective reality which cannot be traced back to anything else, preserving the mark of the Divine in creation. (similarity 0.90)
• For Picard, silence is not an absence of sound or a void, but has substance and its own reality — silence has Being. (similarity 0.88)
• Silence is real, as darkness and cold are real; we feel these as positive sensations, not merely negations of something else. (similarity 0.88)
• Silence is nothing merely negative; it is a positive, a complete world in itself (similarity 0.88)
• To Picard the theologian, silence is the context of consciousness while language is the expression of creation. (similarity 0.87)
• Silence is nothing merely negative; it is not the mere absence of speech, but has a kind of Being of its own. (similarity 0.86)
• Silence is a positive presence rather than mere absence (similarity 0.86)
• Silence is not the mere absence of something else, but a complex positive phenomenon (similarity 0.85)
• Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything, the presence of time, undisturbed. (similarity 0.85)
• Cage’s philosophy of silence developed toward recognition of its positive quality as a substantive presence rather than mere negation. (similarity 0.83)
• All creation emerges from the fertile womb of silence, which is a positive, complete world unto itself, properly called divine and holy. (similarity 0.83)
• Silence is a positive, self-contained reality rather than mere absence. (similarity 0.82)
• Silence is an active presence that must be experienced, not imagined (similarity 0.82)
• Natural silence is a positive presence felt in the body (similarity 0.82)
• Contrary to the view that silence perception is merely the cognitive accompaniment of an absence of experience, perceptual systems can track events with no positive sensory content. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Silence is an active presence that must be experienced, not imagined #corroborates (0.70) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 26
• Silence takes its meaning from surrounding sound #contradicts (0.60) — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 864