“The silence between the notes is as necessary because the notes themselves.” ~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
After I was youthful, I assumed information was one thing you might seize—one thing you might write down, measure, and show. I believed that to know 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 folks 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 area between them.
I discovered this lesson within the mountains, the place the sky stretches vast, and silence will not be empty however filled with presence. I had traveled there to doc a gaggle of elders who carried the historical past of their folks of their voices, of their tales, within the songs they sang to the youthful generations.
One elder, particularly, stood out. He didn’t converse 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 music. 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
If you happen to’ve ever felt just like the world strikes too quick, like persons are talking over one another as an alternative of actually listening to, you then already understand how uncommon true listening is. We dwell in a time when everybody desires to be heard, however few know tips on how to hear.
Listening—actual listening—isn’t nearly listening to phrases. It’s about feeling presence. It’s about noticing what isn’t being stated. It’s about sensing the burden behind somebody’s silence, the emotion of their breath earlier than they converse.
I didn’t at all times know tips on how to hear this fashion. 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 stated aloud. It was the look between two individuals who had identified one another perpetually. It was the way in which somebody’s fingers trembled earlier than telling a troublesome story. It was the pause between sentences, the place one thing unstated begged to be understood.
This sort of listening—deep listening—is a ability, similar to some other. And like all ability, it may be practiced. It requires endurance. 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 will not be an absence, however a vibration. It’s a resonance that permits that means to unfold.
I’ve felt this within the modifying room, chopping collectively scenes, realizing that what strikes folks will not 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 each one you are able to do is sit with them in silence.
That silence will not 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 those who this type of information—this skill to take a seat with silence, to note, to be current—is simply as precious as details and figures, as theories and evaluation.
Academia, the place I spent a lot of my life, doesn’t at all times acknowledge the sort of information that’s felt greater than written. The sort of scholarship that comes by movie, by sound, by expertise. There, information is measured in citations, in publications, in issues that may be counted. However how do you depend a pause? How do you measure the affect of a shared silence?
I’ve spent years making an attempt to advocate for a broader understanding of what it means to know one thing. To grasp that presence—the flexibility to be totally right here, totally conscious—is its personal sort 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 ability. You don’t must journey to distant mountains or sit in lengthy hours of meditation. You simply have to begin paying consideration.
The way to Hear Deeply
If you wish to be taught to hear—to really hear—do that:
1. Pause earlier than responding.
Subsequent time somebody speaks to you, don’t rush to fill the area. 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 typically, we solely half-listen as a result of we’re already occupied with what we’ll say subsequent. As an alternative, strive simply absorbing what’s being stated. Let the response come naturally.
3. Take note of the silences.
In music, the rests are simply as necessary because the notes. In dialog, the pauses carry that means. Discover what occurs in these areas.
4. Be comfy with not figuring out.
A number of the most profound moments in life don’t include clear solutions. Be open to sitting with uncertainty.
5. Follow with sound.
Spend time listening to the world round you—actually listening. Shut your eyes. Discover what number of layers of sound exist without delay. The wind. The hum of a distant automotive. The rhythm of your personal respiratory.
The extra you develop your skill to hear, the extra you’ll perceive—not nearly others, however about your self.
A Totally different Form 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 way in which you expertise the world.
You don’t have to elucidate all the things. You don’t must put all of it into phrases.
Generally, essentially the most highly effective issues we all know—the issues that change us—exist within the area between phrases.
And in the event you ever end up doubting whether or not your manner of seeing, of listening, of feeling has a spot on this world, bear 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, one of the best ways to know is to easily be current.
About Tony Collins
Tony Collins, EdD, MFA is a documentary filmmaker, instructor, musician, author, and guide with forty years of expertise. His work explores inventive expression, scholarly rigor, and nonfiction storytelling throughout the USA, Central America, Asia, and the UAE. In 2025, he’s self-publishing Artistic Scholarship: Rethinking Analysis in Movie and New Media on Amazon, difficult conventional educational evaluation in movie and new media. Web site: anthonycollinsfilm.com