Why Awareness, Not Certainty, Is What Gives Meaning To What We Experience
🎻 Music Credit: “Release Me” from the Two Steps From Hell album Battle Cry.
Composed by Thomas Bergersen
Most people answer this question too fast.
Not because it’s hard – but because it feels familiar.
And familiarity often shuts down reflection.
This is how one simple question helped me build connection, awareness, and trust
“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?“
I asked this question often – especially with my Marines.
Not to test intelligence. Not to start a debate. But to create something rarer: connection.
At first, the answers came quickly. Confident. Technical. Certain. Everyone wanted to be right. And that was expected – Marines are trained to move fast and decide with conviction.
So I’d slow it down.
Sometimes I’d extend the question:
“Okay – let me make this even easier. If a tree falls in a forest and no one, or no thing, is around to hear it, does it make a sound – as we traditionally define sound?”
That pause – that moment of uncertainty – was the point.
Scientifically, the answer is simple. A falling tree creates vibrations in the air. Those pressure waves exist whether anyone is present or not. Physics calls them sound waves.
So yes, the tree produces sound waves regardless of an observer.
But sound, as we experience it, is not just vibration. Sound is vibration received – interpreted by ears, translated by a nervous system, and made real through awareness.
Without perception, there is motion – but no sound.
That’s why my answer has always been no.
Not because the tree doesn’t fall.
Not because the forest isn’t real.
But because sound – as we traditionally define it – requires a listener.
What mattered wasn’t the conclusion. It was what happened in the space before it.
That space created connection between me and my Marines – not through authority, but through shared reflection. It showed them I wasn’t interested in “gotcha” answers. I was interested in how they thought.
More importantly, it created connection within each Marine.
You could see it when they paused. When they stopped reaching outward for the right answer and turned inward instead. When they realized the question wasn’t really about trees or forests at all.
It was about awareness.
About whether meaning exists on its own – or only when someone is present enough to receive it.
Life works the same way. Truth can exist and go unheard. Light can be cast and remain unseen. A lesson can be offered, a moment can arrive – but without attention, nothing lands.
“Sound isn’t created by force – it’s created by presence.” ~ KJ Carleo
That idea sits at the heart of Cast Your Light: awareness isn’t automatic, and meaning isn’t guaranteed. It requires willingness. Presence. Someone choosing to be there.
Yes, the tree produces sound waves whether anyone is listening or not.
But sound – as we understand it – only exists through connection.
And maybe that’s what the question was always meant to open.
Not whether the tree makes a sound.
But whether we are present enough to hear ourselves – and each other.
Much of my work explores how awareness and presence shape meaning. If this resonated, you’re already listening. Comment below.
