Do you "Hear" or do you "Listen"?

[Kurt]

"Most of us listen through a screen of resistance"

Our "screen" is our prejudices, eg. our religious views, our political
views; or with our daily worries, wants, fears, agendas, etc.

And it's THROUGH this 'screen' that we "listen". So, we HEAR what is
said, but it's better described by realizing that we LISTEN through
that filter that we have formed inside us over the years.

We "hear" and we "listen". We "hear" the actual words being said, but
we "listen" to those words as they pass through our self-made screen.
We listen, not to what is being said, but to what we think we hear.

It is an art to put aside our training, our prejudices, our
inclination, our resistance, and reach beyond the verbal expression,
to listen so that we understand instantaneously. When we are in a
receptive state of mind, things are much more likely to be understood;
we are much more likely to be "listening" when our real attention is
given to something.

Otherwise, we only hear the words, but not what THEY said. Far too
many times, we hear what we want to hear.

Kurt Gross
P.S. Posted at www.GrossInternational.com