The basic understanding of this concept can be explained using the metaphor of a radio tuning process. As the radio dial is tuned towards a radio station, the background static moves closer and closer to the signal of the coherent sound (and depending on how clear the station comes through, there may still be static).
In many different experiences we can use this metaphor of signal and noise to talk about what we’re looking for that’s clear and valuable for our purpose (signal) and the parts of our experience that are not valuable to us in this situation, we can tune out (noise).
While this is a useful handle, there can often be signal in the noise itself (or what we might perceive to be noise, simply because we don’t have any other way of understanding it).
Discernment
This tuning process is one way we can talk about discernment. Discernment is an active and ongoing sensing process; a capacity to clarify what we’re looking for and what we aren’t, and be able to tell if what we’re experiencing falls into one of those categories.
While simply being a human means that we will have a complex and subjective experience, differently from other perceivers, we can learn to discern more and more of what information is useful to pay attention to— for us, in our current situation. Here, discernment serves a purpose towards a specific aim.
For example, in some therapeutic modalities, a thought such as, “I can’t do this. I can never speak up in a work meeting. When I think about it, I feel small and worthless,” might be considered noise, and the recommendation might be to discard this thought as baseless anxiety and immediately replace it with a more empowering one.
From a different stance, combining pragmatism with Coherence Therapy and parts work approaches, this thought and the emotion behind patterns like this can be considered worth looking into with curiosity.
For example, is this anxiety actually baseless, in the present moment? Is there some signal there, meaning: are there undesirable outcomes that might come from speaking up, and if so, how might you prevent or mitigate them? (See Fear-Setting for more on this.)
Or, if the anxiety seems unrelated to your present practical situation, then you may discern noise in the self-defeating qualities, and over-generalization (ie. ‘never’), though even the act of suppressing your expression and initiative may have had signal at one point in your life experience.
You can honour that, while discerning which aspect of the thought & emotion you want to hold as a signal and work with.
It can become our choice how we perceive the signal and the noise in something we’re experiencing. Some examples of self-guiding questions might be:
- What way of relating with what is happening will support… (eg. my self trust)?
- How might I make sense of what’s going on in this experience, if I prioritize or value… (eg. seeing all perspectives as valid within a certain context)?
- What am I trying to develop or notice, here?
- What kind of information would be noise, here?
- What framework / way of seeing do I want to experiment with, to make sense my experience of myself, others & the situation right now?