In Order To Really Hear You Have To Really Listen
September 24, 2007
Major fashion mag. Thick, slick, glossy, monthly. One page shouts out. Tucked away between couture fashion, luxury chocolate, designer vodka and timeless watches. Shows me a hot recording artist enraptured by sound. The page asks me if I can hear the world. Reminds me I can’t. Tells me about a global initiative to raise awareness about the importance of listening. The advertisement calls attention to the consequences of hearing loss, that supposedly effects 10% of the world population. The initiative supports projects dedicated to helping hearing impaired people.
I’m one of them. I’m losing my ability to hear. I need help. And I’m convinced it has to do with my inability to listen. My intolerances. My selfish attention focused only on me and my concerns. My reactions and my fears. I have no problem listening to the justifications for my self enclosure. My concentration is on me and my sounds. My preoccupation is on the sounds I make as they ricochet and multiply off the hollowed walled emptiness inside me.
In order to really hear what others have to say, I’d have to stop listening only to myself. In order to listen to the music around me I’d have to stop dancing only to my own rhythms and embrace life as a whole as my dance partner.
But for as boring as it gets, this only listening to myself, it’s safe. While it keeps me locked in - it keeps others locked out.
