Why Listening Is So Important

“The world has always needed good listeners, for only good listeners are truthful tellers. ‘Good listening’ involves the surrender of a self-centered view of the world; it entails the equation of trust and love that flows from that surrender. To listen, to surrender, to trust, to love: these are to be open to the experience of discovery.

Spirituality flourishes in discovery, and especially in the discovery of shared story – the discovery that creates community. For community is where we can learn and practice storytelling and its virtues, ‘humility and ‘obedience’ – two painfully misunderstood qualities that are really the arts of listening.

Humility involves the refusal to coerce, the rejection of all attempts to control others; real listening may be the most humanizing act of humility. Obedience – to obey – meant originally ‘to listen thoroughly'”

From Experiencing Spirituality by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham (Penguin, 2014)