Deafening words...

‘Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens’
-Jimi Hendrix


Wait…
Take a minute to stop doing what you’re doing, even reading these words, and listen.

I am sure it may be the only minute today you may have not just put your ears to work but to listen carefully for once.

You certainly felt different even if for an instant.
Some among us have studied a lot. Others may have watched the news for years, maybe even read all the great poems and more than a hundred books and in the process have obtained great knowledge. They think, even if they don’t want to admit it, their role in life is to ‘educate’ or ‘enlighten’ others with their vast array of lectures. Most of them become orators who are ever ready to make a speech at the first opportunity. These people become the best of listeners…if listening to their own words was the only thing that counts.

History recognizes great speakers, the greatest orators of times past and present. Their names will never be forgotten for what they said at one time. It doesn’t honor those who have listened.
Funny, isn’t it? Most of us refer to ourselves great listeners. Guess that is only because we are all great liars. The only words we pay close attention to are the ones which could trampoline us to a masterful interruption of what is being expressed and an inclusion of our own set of ‘knowledgeable’ blabber.
When we speak mindlessly we make ourselves deaf to other people’s expressions, and we deafen their own ears. Our knowledge then becomes bland, only a group of words coming out of the lips of a robotic being. We show our low self-esteem.
An argument is not won by the one who expresses the most words, by the one who interrupts the most, or even by the one who talks last…

So, if I admire those who seek knowledge by their sheer intelligence and their ambition to read more, I admire even more those who develop a greater understanding of things, of people and of themselves by choosing to listen intently. They learn how not to be from those incapable of taking their time to listen.

There would be no need for therapists if we would all listen to each other.


Lesson Learned: The greatest changes in the history of the World were accomplished not by the ones who spoke new ideas, but by those who chose to listen.