Hey there! Speech is important, and unavoidable, and the point of this article isn't never to speak. It's to take extra care to BUILD silence into your life. Even being a Taoist monk myself, I of course speak all the time. I have a wife and children and a business – a life of silence isn't possible for me. But because I understand not just the spiritual, but also the neurological, benefits of silence, I encourage myself and others to experience deliberate intentional silence when possible. I'm certainly not making the case that one should never speak.