“The silence between the notes is as vital because the notes themselves.” ~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Once I was youthful, I believed data was one thing you can seize—one thing you can write down, measure, and show. I believed that to grasp one thing, I needed to clarify it. And for a very long time, I attempted.
However then, life—by movie, by music, by lengthy conversations with individuals whose knowledge couldn’t be present in books—taught me one thing else: essentially the most highly effective truths don’t at all times are available in phrases. They exist within the house between them.
I realized this lesson within the mountains, the place the sky stretches broad, and silence shouldn’t be empty however stuffed with presence. I had traveled there to doc a bunch of elders who carried the historical past of their individuals of their voices, of their tales, within the songs they sang to the youthful generations.
One elder, specifically, stood out. He didn’t communicate a lot, however when he did, the others listened. Alongside his fellow elders, he would chant in a rhythmic, sing-song cadence, weaving the origins of the universe into the material of their small mountain neighborhood. However what struck me most wasn’t his voice—it was his silence.
Because the digital camera rolled, he sat in stillness. The wind whispered by the timber. The river murmured its everlasting tune. In that quiet, there was one thing deeper than speech, one thing that pulsed with that means.
Later, after I performed the footage for a colleague, they requested, “However what’s he saying?”
I wished to reply, All the things.
Listening Past Phrases
In the event you’ve ever felt just like the world strikes too quick, like persons are talking over one another as an alternative of actually listening to, then you definately already understand how uncommon true listening is. We dwell in a time when everybody desires to be heard, however few know the right way to hear.
Listening—actual listening—isn’t nearly listening to phrases. It’s about feeling presence. It’s about noticing what isn’t being mentioned. It’s about sensing the load behind somebody’s silence, the emotion of their breath earlier than they communicate.
I didn’t at all times know the right way to hear this manner. In my early years as a filmmaker, I centered on what was seen—the shot, the framing, the dialogue. However over time, I noticed that essentially the most highly effective moments weren’t at all times what was mentioned aloud. It was the look between two individuals who had identified one another eternally. It was the best way somebody’s palms trembled earlier than telling a tough story. It was the pause between sentences, the place one thing unstated begged to be understood.
This sort of listening—deep listening—is a talent, similar to every other. And like all talent, it may be practiced. It requires persistence. It requires presence. And it requires a willingness to be quiet your self, to let go of the necessity to reply, clarify, or management the dialog.
The Silence That Speaks
There may be an outdated instructing in Nada Yoga, the yoga of sound, that claims silence shouldn’t be an absence, however a vibration. It’s a resonance that enables that means to unfold.
I’ve felt this within the modifying room, slicing collectively scenes, realizing that what strikes individuals shouldn’t be the dialogue however the areas between it—the quiet earlier than the revelation, the second of stillness earlier than the reality lands. I’ve felt it in music, when a musician permits a observe to fade simply lengthy sufficient for it to sink into the listener’s bones.
And I’ve felt it in life, in conversations the place somebody shares one thing so uncooked, so deeply private, that every one you are able to do is sit with them in silence.
That silence shouldn’t be empty. It is stuffed with acknowledgment, of understanding, of respect.
The Energy of Presence
One of many biggest challenges I confronted in my work was convincing people who this type of data—this capacity to take a seat with silence, to note, to be current—is simply as invaluable as info and figures, as theories and evaluation.
Academia, the place I spent a lot of my life, doesn’t at all times acknowledge the type of data that’s felt greater than written. The type of scholarship that comes by movie, by sound, by expertise. There, data is measured in citations, in publications, in issues that may be counted. However how do you rely a pause? How do you measure the impression of a shared silence?
I’ve spent years attempting to advocate for a broader understanding of what it means to know one thing. To know that presence—the flexibility to be absolutely right here, absolutely conscious—is its personal type of intelligence.
And right here’s what I need you to know: You don’t must be a filmmaker or a scholar to develop this talent. You don’t must journey to distant mountains or sit in lengthy hours of meditation. You simply have to begin paying consideration.
Methods to Hear Deeply
If you wish to study to hear—to actually hear—do that:
1. Pause earlier than responding.
Subsequent time somebody speaks to you, don’t rush to fill the house. Let their phrases settle. Discover what else is there—their physique language, their expression, what they aren’t saying.
2. Hear with out planning your reply.
Too usually, we solely half-listen as a result of we’re already serious about what we’ll say subsequent. As a substitute, strive simply absorbing what’s being mentioned. Let the response come naturally.
3. Take note of the silences.
In music, the rests are simply as vital because the notes. In dialog, the pauses carry that means. Discover what occurs in these areas.
4. Be comfy with not realizing.
A number of the most profound moments in life don’t include clear solutions. Be open to sitting with uncertainty.
5. Observe with sound.
Spend time listening to the world round you—actually listening. Shut your eyes. Discover what number of layers of sound exist directly. The wind. The hum of a distant automotive. The rhythm of your individual respiratory.
The extra you develop your capacity to hear, the extra you’ll perceive—not nearly others, however about your self.
A Completely different Type of Figuring out
I write this now, not as a name to arms, however as an invite.
To the artists, the thinkers, those who really feel deeply however don’t at all times have the phrases—know that there’s a place for you. There may be worth in the best way you expertise the world.
You don’t have to clarify every little thing. You don’t must put all of it into phrases.
Typically, essentially the most highly effective issues we all know—the issues that change us—exist within the house between phrases.
And for those who ever end up doubting whether or not your manner of seeing, of listening, of feeling has a spot on this world, keep in mind this:
A number of the biggest knowledge isn’t spoken.
A number of the strongest messages are by no means written.
And typically, the easiest way to grasp is to easily be current.
About Tony Collins
Tony Collins, EdD, MFA is a documentary filmmaker, instructor, musician, author, and advisor with forty years of expertise. His work explores artistic expression, scholarly rigor, and nonfiction storytelling throughout the USA, Central America, Asia, and the UAE. In 2025, he’s self-publishing Inventive Scholarship: Rethinking Analysis in Movie and New Media on Amazon, difficult conventional educational evaluation in movie and new media. Web site: anthonycollinsfilm.com
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