The very act of listening is a great miracle

Good morning everyone,

Here is today's quote:

Listening is an art which very few of us are capable of. We never actually listen. The word has a sound and when we do not listen to the sound, we interpret it, try to translate it into our own particular language or tradition. We never listen acutely, without any distortion. So, the speaker suggests, respectfully, that you so listen and not interpret what he says.

When you tell a rather exciting story to a little boy, he listens with a tremendous sense of curiosity and energy. He wants to know what is going to happen, and he waits excitedly to the very end. But we grown-up people have lost all that curiosity, the energy to find out, that energy which is required to see very clearly things as they are, without any distortion.

We never listen to each other. You never listen to your wife, do you? You know her much too well, or she you. There is no sense of deep appreciation, friendship, amity, which would make you listen to each other, whether you like it or not. But if you do listen so completely, that very act of listening is a great miracle.

That Benediction is Where You Are, pp 22-23.

Here is my reflection.

Memory constantly distorts the world we have in front of us. It puts a coating over it that makes it look glossy and appealing, but this is only because it is of your own making. All we recognise here is our desire. It takes away the passion to find out. Memory is there as the reassuring background that we constantly drop into. It allows us to live in a state of presumption and superiority. Not knowing changes everything. It creates a senstivity and an appreciation for what is said. Take time today to see when you have a conclusion about something or someone. Might that be based upon a fragment, your desire frustrated by them? Have you understood the totality of them?

Best wishes

Robert