Life's journey

Noises and Voices

Javier Feliú

Jul 28, 2024 — 2 min read

“Y aunque no había niños jugando, ni palomas, ni tejados azules, sentí que el pueblo vivía. Y que si yo escuchaba solamente el silencio, era porque aún no estaba acostumbrado al silencio; tal vez porque mi cabeza venía llena de ruidos y de voces.”
― Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo

Translated Quote

"And even though there were no children playing, no pigeons, no blue rooftops, I felt that the town was alive. And if I could only hear the silence, it was because I was not yet accustomed to the silence; perhaps because my head was still filled with noises and voices."
― Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo

Noise is not just loudness; it is also any unwanted input that disturbs a clear image, sound, or thought. In photography, a long exposure or a high ISO can make for a noisy photograph, and a high gain on a microphone can allow other sounds to come through, distracting the listener from the speaker's message.

In our minds, we have thoughts and memories, recollections of moments that replay time and time again, often triggered involuntarily. Worries are noise for the brain. Sometimes, being worried can have a positive impact on what we do, much like cranking up the ISO in a photo to achieve a specific effect. However, it is more common to view worry as something to overcome.

It is hard to channel all thoughts, which seem limitless at times, through our limited minds with their limited attention capacity. You might say, "Oh... but my mind can think of ten things at a time" (I am speaking to myself here). However, the reality is that being worried about one major need or unresolved want can lead to never-ending wandering.

You can be stuck in a place where you are paralyzed and unable to break out of this inert cycle because you are overly worried about the noise.

Noise is always present in an imperfect world. Anything you magnify, expand, or get too close to will reveal imperfections. I am not sure how to overcome constant worry, but two opposites come to mind; neither is mutually exclusive, and both have merits.

First, when you have a bucket full of dirty liquid and want it out, you overflow it with clean water. Eventually, the dirty liquid will be gone. Similarly, with a worried mind, you can fill it with good things and good activities until all the worry is flushed out. When new worries arise, they will be out of the bucket rather soon.

Second, this one is the hardest: come to peace with solitude, quiet the voices in your head, and find strength in the uncomfortable place of silence. This way, you can hear the noise, find the root cause, and either shut it down or learn from it if necessary.