Nuestros silencios : Por qué callamos

We all carry a repertoire of moments when we bit our tongues: words we didn't want to utter or couldn't find, missed opportunities, omissions, taboos, and unconfessed desires. Ambivalent by nature, silence can be both a refuge and a prison. A choice or an imposition. It encompasses the entire spectrum of human experience: it equates to contemplation and introspection, to mystery and ecstasy, but also to trauma and shame, to violence and family secrets, to grief. Only when we learn to listen to what we keep silent can we wisely choose what we say, for "silence is not the opposite of words, but their condition." Drawing on her experience as a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist, Laurence Joseph uses mythology, literature, and philosophy to map our individual and collective silences, in which readers of this revealing essay will find themselves.