We cannot imagine what it was like for the Apostles to witness, walk, learn, and listen to Jesus in person. The shear presence of His Divinity must have been overwhelming, both as a great and glorious wonder to behold, and as a terrifying reminder of the dread judgment to come.
What we forget, though, is that God is all around us in the world today, too; and not in some metaphorical or abstract sense. The Holy Spirit of God is around us and in us. If we could only learn to live in a more silent way, we could hear and see God more. Here I am not talking merely about keeping more quiet by talking less and listening to less media.
What I am talking about here is the state of being where one is at rest in his or her internal - and also eternal - self. It's that place inside of you - the Greeks call it the nous -- where you remember that God created you and thus, He is a part of you no matter how you try to get away from Him. It's that place inside of you where you know you are connected to others in a way that you cannot explain. Then you re-discover that God made all people, and that means you are connected to everyone else as brothers and sisters in Christ. It's that place inside of you that knows you are meant for more. It's that place inside of you that makes it possible to know the Holy Spirit intimately, making you re-discover that you were meant to be a sanctified person, a being of divine stature.
Seek silence because you know Holiness is near you. Seek silence because you want to participate in the Holy Presence of God. Seek silence because you want to know how life could be different if you let yourself go and lived like God meant for you to live... in complete synergy with Him as a holy being.