Keeping Quiet (Self-introspection)

We all want peace in our life and to achieve this peace it is very important to remain calm for some time.  By staying calm and introspecting, we can  understand ourselves.  You can criticize your own good and bad habits. You can boost good habits and throw out bad ones.  Man's priority is to get money and that is why he is busy from morning till evening, but at some point or the other, he also wants peace, satisfaction.  To attain peace, he sometimes goes for a walk in the mountains, sometimes goes to the seashore with his friends and sometimes tries to find that peace by walking alone in the morning and evening.

 In fact, all problems can be solved only with a calm mind, that's why whenever any trouble comes, at that time man wants to be calm and alone so he can get a solution of that particular problem by doing  self introspection .  Although, we get a lot of evidences for the same and can understand this theme in better way . But I let you people to understand it well through Pablo Neruda's Keeping Quiet Poem.

 In this poem, the poet wishes that till he counts to 12, we all should be silent.  12 is taken as an indicator of time, that is, out of 12 hours and 12 months, some moments should be taken out for self- introspection.  He wants that at that time we should not talk in any language of the world and stop waving our arms, that means neither we need not to be busy in any work  nor any weapon should be raised at that time.  If this happens according to the poet's imagination, it will be a very beautiful and exotic moment.  Together we will enjoy that instant strange moment.  

Moreover, by doing this , the fishermen will not harm the whales in the cold seas of the pole regions

and the man who collects the salt with his hands must take care of his injured hands.  Means no one will fall in the greed of material resources & won't  harm anyone.  By doing introspection, we can also stop wars  against nature ,

war with poisonous gases,  wars with use of fire weapons etc.  Victory in these wars is meaningless because no survivor will be there to enjoy it .  After war, there will be unrest all around.  Instead of fighting a war, soldiers should wear their best clothes and go out for a walk under shady trees with their other brothers.   They should enjoy doing nothing and inculcate the spirit of fraternity.   

The poet also does not want us to mislead silence for complete inactivity.  

Complete inactivity means death, but according to the poet, there is no relation between stillness and death.  We should always keep moving, after resting for a while, we can again engage ourselves.  A long silence can be of great benefit to us.  Man is unable in understanding himself, that is why he becomes disappointed.  He feels helpless when he starts scaring himself to death due to rush  & hurry in his life .  

A long silence can calm our emotions and help us  to remove this sadness.  The poet wants to remind us that stillness does not mean complete inactivity. But after resting for some time,  we may work with double zeal and enthusiasm.  We can learn from the earth 

when everything seems to be dead during winters and natural calamities  but after a while with the change of seasons, the earth also becomes alive . Everyone starts working  with double speed.  That's why we need to remain calm for some time for self- introspection so that we can increase our good habits and eliminate the bad habits .