We have to realize that sometimes human beings, deliberately create noise. People with frustrated wills come together to make noise that causes others to suffer while they themselves do not suffer. … We have to resist this. There is a note of supreme injustice in noisemaking: the noise made by one person can compel another person to listen. … Thomas Merton, The Springs of Contemplation

Of course we want to be good listeners, but compelling others to listen is a form of abuse. Listening well includes hearing what may not be spoken. It also means listening to one’s own body and being. Does demanding noise keep us from awareness of the stillness or from recognizing inner resonation or dissonance?