Can someone explain the lyrics of the song "Sound of Silence"?

Question

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I’ve come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left it’s seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
’neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

Fools said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out it’s warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the sign said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whisper’d in the sounds of silence.

Answer 1

Question all actions including your own.
Be the lion and not the lamb.
Lead and do not follow.

Answer 2

Apathy and not getting involved to make the earth safe for all and peaceful. Instead, humans in the west focus on material good, cars, sex, houses, money. We strive for the pot of gold and ignore too often the plight of the whole world and our neighbors. The Truth lies where people don;t pay attention: graffiti, alternative publications, etc.

Answer 3

He is speaking about man's lack of communicaton with fellow man and how silence life cancer grows so does what is spawned by not communicating rather than reaching out and listening to eachother.

Answer 4

its about alienation and lack of communication in the world. also people worshiping the worldly things rather than god and their families and more important things.

Answer 5

this is a site that has what people think the meaning of the song is:

http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=7354

Answer 6

Drugs , overdosing and seeing a light a brighter vison and what was on the other side..... it just him tripping....