Hearing-I
Hearing plays a major role in human life. All knowledge comes through hearing. This is true for us not only when we were babies but also after we learnt to read and write, and to think and talk.
Besides hearing external sounds and words throughout the day, we also hear a lot inside our minds. When we read, we hear in our minds the words that are on paper or electronic devices. When we write, we hear the words as we write. When we think, we hear ourselves. Thinking is nothing but a conversation with oneself. All thinking occurs in some language or other — and we hear our thoughts, it’s as if we are reading a scrolling script on our mental screens.
Add to all of this the conversations we have, as well as the varied sounds and noises around us, throughout our waking hours. There is just no end to hearing. To free ourselves from it, we may want to use noise-canceling headphones. But how long can we use them really? Besides, while they do a fairly good job of keeping out external sounds, they cannot stop the internal chatter.
Even sleep provides no respite, for the hearing continues in the dream world too. The only time most of us get rest from this kind of nonstop badgering is when we are in deep sleep (suṣupti). In deep sleep, no words are spoken, no thoughts are thought, and there is no sound. Come morning, and the hearing chore resumes.
Even sleep provides no respite, for the hearing continues in the dream world too. The only time most of us get rest from this kind of nonstop badgering is when we are in deep sleep (suṣupti). In deep sleep, no words are spoken, no thoughts are thought, and there is no sound. Come morning, and the hearing chore resumes.
What is problematic is not the hearing itself but our total lack of control over it. The ability to hear is vital, but when we become passive actors in an uncontrolled and undirected environment of words, sounds, and noise — it adds to the already chaotic messiness of our lives. We try to reclaim a measure of control over it by manipulating our spaces (doors, windows), devices (headphones, notifications), and people (choosing who we want to spend time with), which helps to some extent in keeping out or minimizing unwanted sounds and talk.
None of that helps, though, in controlling what we hear within — when we think, read, write, or do art. All deep thinking is really a conversation with ourselves as we sift and organize the ideas, thoughts and feelings within us. All focused reading is really hearing the author — or the characters, if you are reading fiction — speak through the pages of the book. All creative writing is really putting on paper (or on a screen) what we are hearing in our minds. Every piece of authentic art is the artist’s creation in response to whatever is being heard in the heart.
