To Be Human (eBook)

FromPart I: The Core of the Teaching Listening Ihope you will have the patience to listen to this. Communication is anyhow verydifficult because words have definite meanings, consciously, we accept certaindefinitions and try to translate what we hear according to those definitions.But if we begin to define every word . . . and leave it at that, communicationwill be at the conscious level. It seems to me that what we are discussing isnot merely to be understood at the conscious level, but also to be absorbed—,ifI may put it that way—,unconsciously, deep down, without the formulation ofdefinition. It is far more important to listen with the depth of one's wholebeing, than to indulge in merely superficial explanations. If we can listen inthat way, with the totality of one's being, that very listening is an act ofmeditation. Youhave to listen without any effort, without any struggle. It is a very difficultproblem to listen with the totality of one's being—,that is, when the mind notonly hears the words, but is capable of going beyond the words. The merejudgment of a conscious mind is not the discovery or the understanding oftruth. The conscious mind can never find that which is real. All that it can dois to choose, judge, weigh, compare. But comparison, judgment, oridentification is not the uncovering of truth. That is why it is very importantto know how to listen. When you read a book, you might translate what you readaccording to your particular tendency, knowledge, or idiosyncrasy, and so missthe whole content of what the author wants to convey, but to understand, todiscover, you have to listen without the resistance of the conscious mind whichwants to debate, discuss, analyze. Debating, discussing, analyzing is ahindrance when we are dealing with matters which require not mere verbaldefinition and superficial understanding, but understanding at a much deeper,more fundamental level. Such understanding, the understanding of truth, dependsupon how one listens. Canone listen without any conclusion, without any comparison or judgment, justlisten, as you would listen to music, to something which you really feel youlove? Then you listen not only with your mind, your intellect, but you alsolisten with your heart, you listen with care, objectively, sanely, you listenwith attention to find out. Ithink there is an art of listening, which is to listen completely without anymotive, because a motive in listening is a distraction. If you can listen withcomplete attention, then there is no resistance, either to your own thoughts orto what is being said—,which does not mean you will be mesmerized by words. Butit is only the very silent, quiet mind that finds out what is true, not a mindwhich is furiously active, thinking, resisting. Ido not know if you have ever tried this. That is, to listen to the words and tofind out the truth of any statement that is made by the speaker, not onlyintellectually, not only with considerable doubt, but also to listen withoutany resistance—,which does not mean accepting, but to listen so profoundly,with great attention, so that the very act of listening brings about a totalbreaking-down of the pattern of the brain.