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EPALE - Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe

COMING TO CENTRAL PARADOX OF SILENCE…

Slovenia.
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TONI VRANA
Community Hero (Gold Member).
| Posted on Mon, 01/27/2025 - 13:14

Silence is not primarily about stopping talking or finding a quiet place in nature. Nor is silence about having a silent mind, for it would be difficult to find 'dry water'. 

What is the main purpose of the silence course? To reveal to the participants the central paradox of silence  (most likely the participants of the Course will come to their own answer in dealing with this challenge). 

Dealing with silence is very important nowadays for several reasons: it helps to intensify creativity, self-knowledge, self-satisfaction, to face physical silence more easily, to overcome the vacuum of identity, to loosen the conditioning of the mind, to balance the spheres of body and mind, to understand the present moment, to strengthen self-leadership and, last but not least, to face the digital age more productively. 

From the point of view of competences and skills, the course on silence refers directly or indirectly to some soft skills (especially communication, critical thinking, leadership, creativity, time management) and to some key competences (especially personal, social and learning to learn competence, civic competence, entrepreneurial competence).

 

5 days Course: MASTERING THE SKILL OF SILENCE

Course context 

“Silence is a profound melody, for those who can hear it above all the noise.” Socrates

The Course promotes that the phenomenon of silence needs to be addressed today more than ever before in history. This is for the simple reason that modern society functions based on audiovisual images of existence through which we perceive today's reality. The fundamental challenge we face today, therefore, is how to deal with the omnipresence of this audiovisual reality (especially due to the coming mixed era of physical and virtual reality). This is why we need to stimulate a greater state of silence in our lives.

The phenomenon of silence usually consists of achieving physical silence in a given situation and reaching a silent mind. About the latter in particular, all metaphysical spirituality focuses on the pursuit of a silent mind. Many people therefore practice various kinds of teachings and exercises to come closer to a more intense silence, based on which they hope to increase peacefulness and contentment in their professional or personal lives. However, dealing with silence under the umbrella of spirituality or similar trends often seems inadequate. We need a more strategic approach to the wider complexity of silence if we are to use it to enrich our lives.

Course structure 

Day 1: Physical level - Silence as attendance in the common situation   

  • Clarifying the relation between time and space in the light of physical and virtual reality 
  • The paradox of being in present state in the light of silence
  • Reflecting the relation between our body and mind 

Day 2: Communication level - Silence in the light of the diminishing of verbal communication

  • Discovering of the levers for constant and often unnecessary communication 
  • Reflecting the communication process between unpleasant and pleasant silence 
  • Creating conditions for producing of pleasant silence       

Day 3: Behavioural level - Silence in the light of the observing of non-verbal communication

  • Illuminating the contradiction between self-evident and rare communication 
  • Observing own behavior that bases on not-verbal communication 
  • Building self-knowledge through identifying mind and emotional state   

Day 4: Thinking level - Silence in the light of the disclosure of the thinking process

  • Detecting how our mind is constantly pre-defined and framed 
  • The paradox of being in a state without thoughts 
  • Triggering of the insightful type of thinking 

Day 5: Identity-Self level - Silence in the light of rethinking our Self as the image of ourselves

  • (Re)vision and strengthening of identity compass 

  • Rethinking identity in the light of the relation between humanistic and data society 

  • Discovering alternative identity pillars as today the traditional pillars of powers (myths, culture, religion, national states, various national institutions) are losing their identity role 

Course objectives

  • The first objective is to educate participants about the complexity of silence which operates on many levels
  • The second objective is to strengthen participants’ awareness about the central principle that needs consideration in confronting silence in all its complexity 
  • The third objective is to offer a learning environment, through which participants will be able to strengthen their capability of being more silent on many levels

Target groups: The Course is for leaders and adult educators inside adult education, who would like to strengthen their leading capacity by integrating silence moments and strategies into their leading and education work. The course is surely usable also for others who are interested in the topic.

Location and date of the implementation:

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Inside period of October-November 2025. For those interested who will contact us, the exact date of the Course will be available soon.

Working methods:

The Course combines the elements of education, working exercises, reflective approaches, and discussions. 

 

If you are interested in involving the topic in your KA1 mobility project, the deadline is the 19th of February 2025 (in the potential case of your KA2 project the Course as a topic can be used inside such project, shaped differently, depending on the project’s framework and needs), you can contact us at info@centerspirala.org  

Partnership Details
Post type
Erasmus+ mobility activities (Key Action 1)
Valid from
Valid until
Contact
I am looking for…
Adult education provider
Organisation specialised in learning or career guidance
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Working with participants with fewer opportunities
Yes
Looking for new consortium members
No
I am looking for organisations in the following countries
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Topic
Creating new, innovative or joint curricula or courses
Soft skills
Initial and continuous training for teachers, trainers and other education staff
Activity Type
Group mobility of adult learners
Hosting teachers and educators in training
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We only want to host participants