Listen

Listen

Table of contents

No heading

No headings in the article.

Our very own biological devices, protruding out of our heads conveniently placed on either side of the seat of cognitive prowess it self to relay vibrations in the air, to sense threats, listen to prey, find water, find each other, balance ourselves and maintain posture and now after all these years, to listen to words, music the hustle and bustle ( Noise ) of cities and to comprehend and derive meaning. If you have not already guessed what it is, we are gonna ponder about ears and our capability to listen in this article.

A remarkable structure, with the densest bone, consisting of auditory ossicles helping us form a sense of spatial awareness and act as a complimentary failsafe to vision and as a sole savior when there is a lakh of vision. This organ, although served immense purpose in the past, today is taken for granted, as the world we live in has so much more to distract us from ever paying attention, to all the work it does for us. It is quite hard to see someone without a pair of earphones today, myself included, we all love to drown the noise out and listen to our favourite tunes. There is not too much danger out there today, we do not really need to keep our ears open, or do we?

There are so many videos out there on social media platforms, of people gaining the ability to listen through various devices for the first time in their lives and if you observe or watch one of these videos, these people upon listening for the first time in their life are so surprised at the sound of their own voice. Is it not beautiful how we produce these sounds in a specific manner and then when we listen to a sequence of sounds, we interpret these vibrations or sounds through a bone that then can listen to, then make sense of the sounds .

Most of us love the way we sound and most of us listen intently when our inner voice speaks. We assign the utmost value and preference to the voice inside us, although we do listen to other people, we interpret what was said, first through our ears and then the voice inside us tells us what 'it' thinks of what was said and then creates 'its' own meaning and then relays that information unto us and we respond to what 'we' think we heard. At its core this is intelligence to be able to interpret and relay the meaning of what was said. But it can also be stupidity because most times what was said and what was understood are two sides of the coin, equal and opposite.

At its peak performance, this 'interpreter' in us twists and turns everything that it listens into a spin off of ‘its’ own agenda, have you ever been in a social setting with friends and the evening starts out with you being called out and you get offended. Everything else that is said at the table after an offence is taken, seems like a personal attack, because the interpreter or the voice in us is looking for any sign of further evidence of offence that it can listen to and convert it into a personal attack on itself. Which is why the phrase “Do not take it personally” is said so many times. Because the interpreter, is a kid deep down inside, although we grow up sometimes the interpreter fails to grow with us for no mistake of its own.

Knowing what we know, about this passive filter that exists, whose only purpose is to twist and turn words to make it seem like what it thinks it is. It is vital to suppress this filter to really open our ears and open the pathway to our minds to really deeply truly listen to what is being said. Imagine listening to your favourite artists or songs. Everytime you listen, the act of listening is purely listening itself and comprehending at the same time with no filter. This is also closely correlated to the importance we assign to the one who's saying the words, the more we approve of the person speaking or the more we respect them or look up to them, we truly listen, because we already know that we can trust them and everything that they say, we let our guards (Interpreters) down and take part in the act of pure comprehension.

Understanding the state of pure filter less comprehension can be the path to opening our ears and minds to listen to what is being said and take note of lessons and possibly upgrade and improve ourselves. The 'interpreter' or the 'ego' will surely put up a hell of a fight to stop you from ever being able to reach this point, but it is innately essential to silence this voice or 'ego' to bring about active listening. We believe that sometimes if we just listen it may overwrite what we think and know to be true but this is not the case, it is completely possible to purely comprehend what is being said and form our opinions after the completion of what is being said. Our brains have excellent retention capabilities, we can recall what was said at a later point in the day and then ponder and reach conclusions later.

"We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.”

-Alan W. Watts

Which makes it all the more worth our while to truly listen.

Listen, this ability is one of the best gifts humankind poses. Open your ears, silence your mind and listen!