“Those Who Love Noise Are Inferior Humans”

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 12 September 2022 “Hujoomo-Aawaaz Se Iss Darja Pareshaan Hoon; Goya Dahqaan Ke Beech Ek Adad Insaan Hoon” Shams Shikarpuri (Exasperated so much by the crowd and noise/As if I'm living with the rustics) “Those who love noise are inferior humans," wrote Shams Tabrizi. His spiritual soul mate Rumi added ' crowd ' to it and made it all the more comprehensive: Those who love noise and crowd are inferior humans. V S Naipaul, though not a great fan of Muslims despite having a Muslim wife from Bahawalpur, Pakistan, did like Rumi's poetry and he quoted this observation when he visited India, the country of his ancestors, and witnessed, dirt, crowd and extreme noise everywhere. Noise and crowd can be off-putting to any sane human. Bertrand Russell used to say, “Noise is a nuisance to all noetic people." In mystical traditions, all Sufis or Mystics prefer 'meditative and unalloyed silence' (Sukoot-e-Subh-e-Azal: The silence of the very first dawn of human civilization). This type of silence is always very introspective and self-searching. Our days are spent with people and crowds. We tend to lose our cerebral individuality when we're constantly with people. We may quote a famous English adage that two is a company, three is a crowd, but to those who love to think, even two is a crowd at times. Have you ever noticed as to why there's a rapid erosion of intellect from human society and groups? Because we're all too addicted to crowds. It may not be physical and often not perceptible as well, but when we're glued to various social platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, FB and whatnots, we're part of a motley crowd. When we foolishly discuss and believe that the spurious WhatsApp posts are oracular truths, we're all integral to the noise and clamour these posts generate and eventually degenerate us. 'A crowd is a crow that creates a shrill noise,' is an old Persian maxim. Humans are too much into crowds and noises. This causes us to lose our voice of sanity and prudence. Great Sufi Bayazid Bastami used to urge his disciples, “Give yourself a few minutes in the company of your own self every day because when you're with yourself, you're with your own self.” Noise and crowd take away our contemplative selves. Our intellectual individuality is lost in a whirlpool of noise and the sea of people. Great German philosopher and the father of Pessimism, Arthur Schopenhauer always lived on the outskirts of a city and hardly interacted with anyone. He was neither an eccentric nor a recluse. He just loved his own company and avoided people as he believed that interacting with a storm of people would have a debilitating influence on his creativity. He once famously said, “Every time I return home, I close the doors to protect myself from the tyranny of human faces." The German maverick may have been an extreme case who was scornful of people, there's no repudiating the fact that for an intellect, people and noise are no less than nightmares. Avoid them for your own good. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/love-noise-inferior-humans/d/127929 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism