________________
ing. Do this by allowing your Conscious Will to go over each part of the body from head to feet, breathing regularly and consciously.
Golden Silence
Would you believe that a public speaker uses a great deal more nervous energy than a labourer doing a lot of strenuous work with his muscles does? This is because the total amount of nervous energy required is proportional to the number of motor units and not the size of the muscles. Almost equal amount of nervous impulse is necessary to contract a small facial or vocal muscle as for a large leg muscle. Thus an orator who puts a large number of small muscles to work expends much more energy than a labourer; a steno-typist uses more than a blacksmith does. That is why silence is so valuable in conserving and preventing the avoidable waste of energy.
What happens when you speak? An idea which forms in your mind, must first be instantly translated into words with accurate grammar and syntax. In order to allow you to speak, precise orders must be sent out to the muscles of the vocal chord to contract, relax and vary the amount of air used. Contractions of the muscles of tongue, lips, and face require thousands of small motor nerves, each expending its own quota of energy, to participate in the act of speaking. In fact, a speech, lasting perhaps a couple of hours may completely exhaust an average person. You can prevent this colossal waste of energy only by observing SILENCE.
But it is not enough to stop speaking aloud. Silence really means that the mental process of speech must also be halted as this can be as exacting as loud talk in terms of nervous energy. This is because almost every motor unit named above, except the vocal chord, has to go through the same motions as are necessary for loud speech. Thus internal silence is as essential as the external or vocal silence.
1. A motor-unit is composed of muscle and the nerve-tissues innervating it.
Jain Education International
95
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
