“Listening is an art, and most of us do not really listen at all. We listen to our own opinions, judgments and valuations, and we hardly have time to listen to another. In any listening, which is really also examining, there must be attention, not concentration, an attention that comes easily when we give our minds, our hearts, our ears, everything to understand something that is a complex and important part in our lives.”
“(To) listen and examine we cannot have opinions. We can’t say, “I know and you don’t know”, and stick to our opinions, judgments and evaluations. A man who says he knows does not know, and therefore is incapable of listening.”
“When we are listening attentively, completely to what is being said, there is no listener.”
In the quote K is linking seeing, listening, attention, examining, and understanding all together.
So are seeing, listening, giving attention, being aware, understanding, exploring, etc - all different aspects of the same basic quality of mind & heart?
And K is suggesting that when we hold onto an opinion or judgement, onto knowledge of some kind, it blocks this quality of mind & heart (which can see, listen, give attention, examine, understand, etc).
Knowledge blocks this quality of mind and heart when knowledge holds itself in higher esteem and importance. Unless the brain has realized how much more fundamental this quality is than knowledge, intellect dominates.
Listening (per Krishnamurti and Bohm) is grounded in:
Awakeness, awareness, attentiveness.
Freedom from self, fear, judgement, bias.
Passion. Compassion. Openness. Heart.
Surrender, no resistance.
No analysis or control.
Humility and kindness and love.
Discernment and sensitivity and intelligence.
And so on.
The Six Advices of Tilopa (for freedom from self) comes to mind:
No past.
No future.
No present.
No analysis.
No control.
Rest in awareness.
What are the challenges involved in ‘the art of reading’ (as in reading postings here)? Is there anything essentially different between listening (live, recorded) and reading (book, forum)?
So we need to be able to have the equivalent quality of attention in listening and seeing, with regards to reading and understanding (as well as speaking).
Maybe we can ask ourselves what this attentive manner of reading - and writing - involves?
And the rare image, video, song. We could make more use of these?
So we need to be able to have the equivalent quality of attention in listening and seeing, with regards to reading and understanding (as well as speaking). … Maybe we can ask ourselves what this attentive manner of reading - and writing - involves?
Live dialogue is in the present moment. (The sound production and hearing, that is. The analysis, judgement, response, conditioned thought about what is heard brings in the past and future.) Written dialogue is not, or at least not necessarily. A text is a kind of static object that we may look upon from different angles, different paces, with repeats, usw. This holds for reading and writing.
Might be interesting to read a posting just once, at a conversational pace, as if it were being spoken aloud like in a live dialogue. Ditto for writing: Write as if you were speaking, don’t edit.
