Alan Watts
There Will Be Noise
You know the old question, “If a tree crashes in a forest and there is nobody around to hear it, is there a noise?”
This question has been discussed in many futile ways
But noise, basically is a state of affairs that requires an eardrum and an audio nervous system behind the eardrum
When the tree falls, if there is anywhere around an ear with the appropriate nervous system, there will be a noise
Because noise is a relationship between motion in the air and ears
If there is not any ear around, there won’t be any noise although there will be vibration in the air
And if there is some instrument around, such as a microphone attached to a tape recorder
[Pre-Chorus]
There will be noise;
There will be a vibration
There will be light
In the darkness
In the same way, let’s suppose the sun sends out light into space
Now, the space surrounding the sun will be black darkness as if there were no light in it, unless a planet happens to float by
When a planet floats by, there will be light
In the darkness
But if there isn’t anything to relate to the sun in that way, then comes no light
Now this goes right down to the root and ground of everything
It goes down to the essence of your nerves, of your whole being
That it’s all an interdependence
[Chorus]
There will be noise;
There will be a vibration
There will be light
In the darkness
There will be noise;
There will be a vibration
There will be light
In the darkness
And that’s why one of the basic symbols of the universe is the Chinese yin-yang symbol
Which, you know, is a circle with an S-curve in the center
One side of the S is black, the other is white
So it makes, as it were, two commas, or two fishes
And the eye of the fish is the opposite color;
The white fish has a black eye, the black fish has a white eye
Curling in on each other
Now, this thing is called a helix, and that is the fundamental form of the galaxies; the great nebulae we see out in space
And this is, basically, too, the position of sexual intercourse
This is lovemaking
And this is, you know, when you hold hands, and so on
This is it
This is it
[Chorus]
There will be noise;
There will be a vibration
There will be light
In the darkness
There will be noise;
There will be a vibration
There will be light
In the darkness
But there are two involved
And the two are secretly one