Mark Brady writes under the ‘Preface’ of his book ‘The Wisdom of Listening’:
Listening skillfully is difficult. To listen impeccably, with fixed full, attention is a discipline much like meditation. It requires practice, rigor and resolve. And when our efforts slacken, it may require forgiveness, gentleness and sometimes a bit of creative inspiration to get ourselves back on track.
In Western culture listening has never been a prized pursuit, the way, for example teaching or preaching has been. There will never be a Who’s Who in American Listening. To pursue a desire to become a master listener, “a listening warrior,” requires turning away from the dominant culture to explore paths few have chosen,
This anthology has grown out of my own “counterculture” passion to become an increasingly skillful listener. Many years ago as a memorable college professor of mine, Jim Fadiman, encouraged an eager group of graduate students to “teach what you most want to learn.” This continues to be sage advice. Teaching what I most want to learn has forced me to focus deeply, to research accurately, and to bring sufficient creativity to make the topic interesting to others.
I am still exploring those depths with respect to listening and learning—and the proof is in the pudding. In it I have followed another bit of advice from Dr. Fadiman: Identify those teachers from whom you’d like to learn and go to them directly. It is a mentor/apprentice model that has served a variety of crafts and discipline well over many centuries, and I have adapted it to the practice of listening. The contributors to this anthology are all consummate teachers with important things to teach me—and I hope you as well—about listening. Some of the contributors to this collection I knew personally beforehand; some only through their published writings; others were identified by the self-posed question: “Who might teach me valuable things about listening?”
The list that resulted from posing that question was a long one and many of them are included here. All these essays have one thing in common: listening is vital to psychology and spiritual growth, and skillful cultivation of it requires ongoing, disciplined practice.
The articles in this anthology are a collection of thoughtful, instructive words on listening. They are also words, true words, useful words. A diligent reader of these words will come away with many benefits. To mention but a few, such a reader will:
- uncover the skillful means to be more fully in the world, present and responsive;
- realize that listening is a practice, and a practice that takes practice, and being skillful does not require being perfect;
- recognize and rectify the myriad ways in which the mind can close the ears;
- find that listening skillfully nourishes others, and that we can teach others how to return that nourishment to us:
- realize that unskillful listening has a variety of causes, and with practice we can learn to recognize and remedy them:
- discover how listening skillfully to others can facilitate hearing and deeply honoring our own tender hearts;
- recognize that there are ways to effectively listen in large groups, where distractions and competing agendas often make listening challenging.
- find confirmation of the truth that words have power: that listening can be accomplished in ways that channel words optimally, positively, and cooperatively.
. . . and there are many more unnamed benefits an earnest reader will find in putting into practice the teachings in this collection of listening wisdom.
Finally, I assert that human maturation seems to significantly correlate with an increasing capacity for skillful listening. It is as if the years spent focused on speaking words and thoughts centered around one’s own unique experience and personal world view soften the adamant need to prove our own points, or to consign others’ viewpoints to the background. There is more room available for the words and thoughts of others, space that can accommodate a perspective different than our own. . . . ~Edited by Mark Brady: Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville MA 02144USA
