Plug Your Ears | PASSAGES :003
“Be without ear, without sense, without thought.”
A few years ago, I went to urgent care because of an intense earache and jaw pain. Right away they put an otoscope in my ear and figured out the problem. Earwax buildup—super gross! Using a fancy spray bottle, they hosed down my inner ear, and the chunky culprits of my pain flowed out into the bucket. It was one of the most disgusting and intriguing moments of my life.
Six months later the problem came back. This time I tried one of those weird ear candle things. It didn’t work. So back to urgent care I went. They took care of the issue again, and educated me too.
“Some people just overproduce earwax,” they said. Apparently, I was one of these people.
“Also, don’t use Q-tips. They jam the wax further down into the ear.”
This was a stunning revelation! You mean, Q-tips don’t fix the problem, they make it worse? Turns out it the doctor’s tip lines up with the Q-tip company’s messaging, which comedian Pete Holmes hilariously calls out in this bit on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (jump to the 2:15 mark). Officially, their famous product is for first aid, baby toes, eye makeup application, and computer keyboard cleaning. I guess I just never read the back of the box.
Before I left the doctor this time, I took note of the spray bottle they used—I’ll take my ear care into my own hands, thank you very much—and later bought one on Amazon (yes, I did just share the link!), which I just used last week in an effective and, dare I say, thoroughly enjoyable manner.
Wow, that’s a lot about my earwax situation... But I bring it all up because I want you to know what the thirteenth century Sufi Muslim poet Rumi—without a doubt—would say to me:
Don’t even bother!
Congratulations on your excessive earwax production!
Let it build up until you can no longer hear!
How do I know this is what Rumi would say? Because it’s exactly what he urges in these verses from his sprawling Masnavi, a work of Islamic literature that for many Muslims is second only to the Quran:
Plug thy low sensual ear, which stuffs like cotton
Thy conscience and makes deaf thine inward ear.
Be without ear, without sense, without thought,
And hearken to the call of God, “Return!”
Here’s the thing: when all of your hearing is focused on external input, you can’t hear the messages and guidance and wisdom that arise internally—from within, from soul, from source.
Another translation includes this clarifying line, “If you pay heed to what the idle say, you’ll have no clue what truthful dreams convey.”
When you’re so caught up in the opinions, perspectives, desires, and expectations of others, you miss out on the vast power, creativity, and love inside of you. Which, by the way, not only are crucial for accessing your fullest life, but also are critical for exporting peace and wellbeing to the world around you.
You have to plug your outer ears so you can clear your inner ears.
The end of the year is a helpful time to look back on who you’ve been and what you’ve been about. There’s always been some outer noise that “makes deaf thine inner ear.” That idle, vapid, purposeless racket is the kind of stuff we want to block out. Slowing down, getting quiet, and being still help us do just that, so we can tune in to what theologian, mystic, and civil rights leader Howard Thurman called “the sound of the genuine” within us.
Reflection Questions
When can you make space for reflective space to consider the distracting noises that you have been paying attention to?
What external racket is interfering with your capacity to hear “the sound of the genuine” within you?
What inside you wants to be heard right now?