Pause that refreshes

People are not always fond of breaks in music; it interrupts the flow of sound!
When I use a silence in my music, am I writing a break which is to be felt and counted, or am I writing a real silence, one which all movement stops? I feel that it is a bit more complex than this, it depends on the nature of the work. In the music of Pärt, for example, the silences cause the music to stop, to breathe at that point. It is an interruption to allow for personal meditation. There is no tempo, no time - a stop in the fabric of the piece. The pauses in The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, on the other hand, are timed breaks, they are counted, we wait for the piece to continue the process.