Reader Response to The Art of Listening

 

This month began our challenge to be a better listener.  I appreciate all responses and truly want this to become a dialogue.  I am posting a short email with a poem which my mom sent me as a response to Listening Lesson 1.  I especially like the end of this poem, which is why I am sharing it with you.

 

Everyone hears a differently.  The same words may enter our ears, but our hearts and minds interpret them differently.  The beauty of becoming a good listener is that instead of just hearing the single note which reverberates inside of us, we have the opportunity to hear a whole chord as each person shares the sound that they hear.  If we can do that often enough, I wonder if we’d discover that life is a symphony?

 

Hi Rebecca,

I want to introduce you to Joan Chittester.  She is a Dominican sister who has her heart and vision in a good place.  She challenges the Catholic Church which makes her unwelcome in some circles and a hero in others.  I get her newsletter and am attempting to participate in her Monasteries of the Heart.  I don’t follow through many times but do appreciate the words of insight and wisdom that make it to my computer.  I liked this poem as seeking wisdom is very attractive to my spirituality.

It was good talking to you today.  I so relish our conversastions.  You are wonderful.  You are wonderful for me.

Love, Mom

 

 

A Listening Heart

There is a magnet in a seeker’s heart
whose true north is God.
It bends toward the Voice of God
with the ear of the heart
and, like sunflowers in the sun,
turns all of life toward
the living of the Word.

This listening is pure of pride
and free of arrogance.
It seeks wisdom—
everywhere, at all times—
and knows wisdom by the way
it echoes
the call of the scriptures.

The compass of God implanted
in the seeker’s heart
stretches toward truth
and signals the way to justice.
A truly listening heart knows
that we lose the chance for truth
if we give another—any other—
either too much, or too little,
control over the conscience
that is meant to be ours alone.

And yet, at the same time
mutual obedience,
real listening,
holy listening
forever seeks the spiritual dialogue
holy wisdom demands.

This listening with the heart
to the insights of another
is not the obedience of children,
or soldiers,
or servants,
or minions.

It is the obedience given to a lover
because of love alone.

– fromThe Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life by Joan Chittister (BlueBridge)