Ears

The ears are the quietest workers in your body. They never rest. Even while you sleep, they receive sounds — filtering, sorting, distinguishing between unimportant and alarming. No organ is as permeable to the world as this one. None is as vulnerable to what comes from outside. And none speaks so softly when it itself needs help.

When your ears begin to make themselves heard — dull, full, irritated, sensitive, numb, hypersensitive — something is happening that goes far beyond the ear canal. Medically, there are countless explanations: inflammation, pressure differences, nerve irritation, circulatory disorders, wear and tear. Psychosomatically, however, a different question arises: What is no longer reaching you? Or conversely: What is reaching you too much?

The ear is a receiving organ. And every receiving organ tells a story about how much of the world you let in — and which world.