The Principle of Active Rest in Thinking and Action

In the article the productive role of silence and calm is considered through the lens of poetry. Silence is no less worth of being subject matter of psychology than word, especially cultural-historical psychology. Silence is saturated with word and word with silence. Psychologically, silence differs from lack of sound. Lack of sound is dead and silence is alive. The ability of keeping silence meaningfully is one of higher achievements in human mental development. To explain the phenomena of lack of sound and silence the author draws in philosophical, linguistic and psychological views of internal and external forms of the word about non-verbal inner word, about nonverbalised motor programs. Silence, lack of sound, meaningful or active calm may become focus of serious experimental and theoretical research.