One thing Andrew addressed in his book was the fact that he was walking as a white male as opposed to a female or a person of color. Would he have had the mostly positive experience that he had, or would his Walking to Listen experience have ended early with some sort of tragedy as in rape if he were a woman or a hate crime based upon race? I think it was good that he asked himself this question. He also wondered in the same vein that perhaps if being a white male would be a detriment when he ran across people of other ethnic backgrounds. Would he be beaten up for simply being white? Would he be accepted and would people feel comfortable talking with him? These questions were very important for Andrew to ask himself. The bottom line is that we don't listen enough to one another. We listen in order to reply, argue or debate most of the time. Really being quiet and listening requires a conscious effort and the time it takes to really tune in to somebody. We live in a very hurried society, and all of us are tuned in to our technologies which has almost rendered us incapable of focusing on something or someone for longer than 30 seconds. If we could come together as one species, one human race and learn to listen, cooperate, make compromises and even make amends, then we'd be living in a much happier world. Of course, we haven't even touched on economic inequality, racism, sexism, the unsustainability of capitalism and industrial society and the inequities that all of this breeds. So, listening well is only PART of the solution. The bigger solution is creating an equitable society that works for everybody and not just the wealthy few.
Another form of listening Im learning is to listen to the Self that I truly am. That still, quiet voice, which can be heard above the din of the ego fear-talk if I'm but willing to hear it.This Self cannot but help to listen deeply to others at the same time and this is the Peace that surpasseth all understanding (to partly quote A Course In Miracles)
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One thing Andrew addressed in his book was the fact that he was walking as a white male as opposed to a female or a person of color. Would he have had the mostly positive experience that he had, or would his Walking to Listen experience have ended early with some sort of tragedy as in rape if he were a woman or a hate crime based upon race? I think it was good that he asked himself this question. He also wondered in the same vein that perhaps if being a white male would be a detriment when he ran across people of other ethnic backgrounds. Would he be beaten up for simply being white? Would he be accepted and would people feel comfortable talking with him? These questions were very important for Andrew to ask himself.
The bottom line is that we don't listen enough to one another. We listen in order to reply, argue or debate most of the time. Really being quiet and listening requires a conscious effort and the time it takes to really tune in to somebody. We live in a very hurried society, and all of us are tuned in to our technologies which has almost rendered us incapable of focusing on something or someone for longer than 30 seconds. If we could come together as one species, one human race and learn to listen, cooperate, make compromises and even make amends, then we'd be living in a much happier world. Of course, we haven't even touched on economic inequality, racism, sexism, the unsustainability of capitalism and industrial society and the inequities that all of this breeds. So, listening well is only PART of the solution. The bigger solution is creating an equitable society that works for everybody and not just the wealthy few.
Well said💚💚💚💚
Another form of listening Im learning is to listen to the Self that I truly am. That still, quiet voice, which can be heard above the din of the ego fear-talk if I'm but willing to hear it.This Self cannot but help to listen deeply to others at the same time and this is the Peace that surpasseth all understanding (to partly quote A Course In Miracles)
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