◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Listening is an act of will that precedes hearing. Everyone can listen, even persons whose ability to hear sounds is compromised because of physiological make-up, accident, aging, or other life processes. Everyone can listen because listening is paying attention.

The more attention we pay to paying attention the more skilled we become at attending. The more skillfully we attend the better we become at listening. The better we listen the more completely we hear, whether or not we actually can perceive sounds – the ear is just one way of hearing.

When people speak we attend to differing sounds and tones of words. On the printed page we note how words appear in relation to each other. We also attend to contexts in which, and from which, words appear.

 ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ More complete listening results in fuller understanding of life because we hear some of what emerges from invisible as well as visible dimensions of reality.

In particular, connecting with emotions that listening evokes surprises us with being able to hear the inner flow of things.

Boundaries between the observer and the observed become blurred. A tapestry surrounds both the one who speaks or writes and the one who listens and hears.

Both live the same poem, and, in that sense, both are poets. Both bestow meaning.