The Wisdom of Listening
by Mark Brady (Ed.)
2003 · Wisdom Publications · 320 pages
The benefits of practicing true listening are very real. Through refining our listening skills, we not only understand just what to say; we also understand when not to say anything at all. We become more open, present, and responsive. In turn, we renew the sense of peace within ourselves.
In The Wisdom of Listening, award-winning author, teacher, and trainer Dr. Mark Brady and contributors that include Ram Dass and A.H. Almaas, help us to develop the “listening warrior” inside us all. Inspiring and easy to follow, the lessons here can transform the ways that we interact with others, whether in a large meeting or in a face-to-face encounter.
Listening is almost a lost art: some of us may have forgotten how to do it; some of us may have never quite learned. The Wisdom of Listening gives readers the skills to overcome our culture’s tendency towards distraction and reaction, and to be more fully in the world.
Brady has put together a very helpful anthology of 19 essays with sections on the promise, the practice, and the power of listening. Among the contributors are spiritual teacher Ram Dass; Cheri Huber, founder and teacher-in-residence at the Zen Monastery Practice Center; Christine Longaker, the former director of the Hospice of Santa Cruz; Fran Peavey, long-time social activist; Marshall Rosenberg, founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication; Anne Simpkinson, an editor for Preventionmagazine; Kathleen Dowling Singh, a therapist and workshop leader; and Rodney Smith, director of the Hospice of Seattle. Using a variety of terms to describe this type of communion with another — deep listening, listening with the heart, listening with the third ear, devout listening (a Quaker term), fierce listening, virtuoso listening — they offer suggestions, perspectives, and practices that will reinforce your intentions to be a good listener. [Text Source: Spirituality & Practice]
“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 the desire to become a master listener, a ‘listening warrior,’ requires turning away from the dominant culture, a certain willingness to explore paths few have chosen.”
