Do we need inner silence to meditate?

Perhaps the greatest gift of meditation is the quieting of the mind's constant commentary. The familiar and constant voice that judges and compares everything. It creates likes and dislikes, attraction and aversion, and all other dualistic states that create suffering. Mind chatter spills over into dreams. We act out subconscious fears, pain, and anxiety collected during waking hours. Ordinarily, the only rest we get from this voice is in a deep sleep. Meditation results in the cultivation of inner silence, where the commentator loses steam and quiets down. Inner silence eventually penetrates the dream state as the mind is no longer fueled by chatter. Inner silence catalyzes the rise of the observer