What Is Your Favorite Genre? Mine Is Ruach.

Breath, Spirit, and the Sounds Beneath the Noise

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The WordPress prompt asked:
What is your favorite genre of music?

A simple question.

Jazz. Rock. Classical. Hip-hop. Worship. Lo-fi chill.
Pick one. Smile. Move on.

But I sat with it for a while—
and the question dropped like a pebble in my soul.

It rippled.
And suddenly, “genre” felt too small.

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What Is Genre, Anyway?

Genre is a label humans use to sort sound into neat little boxes.

But what box do you place the sound of rain falling on a tin roof at 3 a.m.?
Or the rhythm of distant traffic when you are alone with your thoughts?
Or the silence that hums just before dawn?

As a child, I fell asleep to the distant sound of trains rolling over steel tracks in the dark.
Their low, steady rhythm was my nighttime lullaby, a song without a name.

But I wonder—what is the train track for others?

For some, it is the constant rush of a river outside their window, tumbling over rocks like an endless hymn.
For others, the wind whistling through pine trees high on a mountainside, shaping its own restless melody.
For the city dweller, perhaps it is the hum and honk of traffic below their apartment, the steady pulse of a place that never sleeps.

And sometimes, the music of the night is not comforting at all.

I remember one night when Lindsey and I stopped beside the Mississippi River. We stepped out of the car to look at the stars, expecting peace, maybe even romance.
But what we heard instead were the sounds of creatures—loud, wild, and unfamiliar.
The stars, once beautiful, suddenly felt distant and cold.
The night was alive, but it did not feel safe.

So we slipped back into our car and found our way to the quiet glow of a cozy hotel room,
where the world outside could hum without unsettling us.

Later, I wondered if those wild, unfamiliar sounds were also a kind of music—an invitation to hear the world differently, even when it felt too big.

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Ruach: The Breath Beneath It All

Long before playlists and radio charts, there was sound.

In Hebrew, it is called ruach—
Breath. Wind. Spirit.

Genesis says God’s ruach hovered over the waters,
breathing life into stillness,
vibrating creation into being.

When God breathed into dust the breath of life—ruach hayyim—humanity began to hum with Him.
(Genesis 2:7)

Other traditions call it Om—
the hum beneath the universe.

Some point to the Solfeggio frequencies, tones said to restore what is broken in body and soul.

In Tolkien’s story of beginnings, the world was sung into being—each voice adding its part to the unfolding harmony.

Science says everything vibrates.
Faith says the Spirit moves.
Poets say there is music beneath the noise.

And maybe they are all right.

Life sings before it speaks.
Peace hums before it is heard.

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The Pebble, the Splash, and the Music of the Soul

I stood by a lake once and tossed a stone.

It hit the water with a simple, honest sound:
plop.

The next one—sharp-edged and tossed high—
cut the air first:
swoosh.

Then I found a flat, smooth stone.
I threw it sideways. It danced:
skip. skip. skip.
And then it was gone.

And I realized:

Music is a splash.
And we are the ones tossing the stones.

Like sand on a Chladni plate, dancing when the right frequency finds it,
we move to the sounds we make—
and to the sounds that find us.

Jazz or Om.
Metal or ruach.
A Tom Waits growl or the quiet hush of morning.

Each is a pebble, tossed into the pond of your soul.
And your soul decides whether it plops, skips, or dances.

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Peace Is Resonance

Peace is not the absence of sound.
It is your soul humming in tune with the deeper note.

Music does not create peace.
But sometimes it wakes it up,
if you are still enough to hear.

I have heard symphonies in the trash-can rhythms of STOMP.
I have heard truth in the ache of Brahms and the gravel of Waits.
I have heard God in the wind across a field, whispering ruach to anyone who will pause.

Life throws pebbles at us every day:

A child’s laugh. A siren. A heartbreak. A hallelujah.

The question is: will we call it noise, or music?

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So, What Is Your Favorite Genre?

Mine is ruach—
the breath of God, still moving over the waters.

Maybe it is Om—
the hum of life beneath the noise.

Maybe it is the space between the notes where meaning waits to be heard.

And you, friend?

What sound is finding you today?
A song on the radio that stopped you cold?
The wind in your backyard?
The quiet ache of a memory?

What pebble are you tossing,
and what ripple is finding you?

Share your ripple if you wish.
Let us listen together for the Spirit’s hum beneath it all.

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Dean Graf
Pebble tosser. Listener of ripples.

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Tags:

music | ruach | listening | spirituality | creation | breath | peace | reflection | inspiration | creativity | sound | story | resonance | soul care | stillness