Principles – Depth of Listening – Saturday 12th of Novemeber,2016

   We tackled in the previous article the principle of Depth that helps us appreciate all what is valuable in life. We also discussed the importance of deep thinking.

Deep Listening:

There is another depth we should tackle which is deep listening .To perfectly understand and realize and what the speaker really wants to say and overlooking what is beyond mere words. Don’t let what people say in their moments of anger or depression deceive you. Try to skip that feeling and pinpoint the core reason of their anger. Some people cannot express their pain, others turn it into anger, but also there are some people who try to hide it with a smile!
Deep thinkers are deep listeners as well. Their depth let them skip all the minutiae and the unreal things and understand the significant meaning their speakers want to convey; whether they managed to express it in words or not. They say, “He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.”
A person who is characterized by depth of listening would give the chance to the speaker to finish speaking without interrupting him. He would also make sure that he understood all the information the speaker has informed. We should realize that each person is distinguished by the experience he gained through his whole life; so words may have different connotations according to each person. Thus, a deep person would make sure he understands what the speaker really meant.
Listening for the purpose of understanding has been a unique phenomenon in our days. All the conversation has turned into “A dialogue of the Deaf” which is caused by listening for the purpose of answering the speaker not understanding him. Stephen Covey, an American writer, says,” Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” On the contrary, if a person exerts a little effort to listen carefully to others, he would make a real connection and establish a rapport with them. Moreover, there is a close relation between listening and wisdom; Oliver Holmes, an American Polymath, said, “It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”

To be continued….

General Bishop 
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center