The above and similar expressions are often heard after hearing the same talk. A religious sister who has a weekly column in the Catholic Times writes that listening is the way into the world of the spirit.
The more contact with the social network service, she says, the more difficult will be our listening. Speaking is in first place and listening comes second. When everyone wants to talk no one is listening. The word, more than a tool for communication is more a means to entertain isn't it?
We do not listen with the ear, but by activating the intellect. We help the listening process by reading. Without the reading we are inclosed in our own small world. Reading helps us understand the world.
Within SNS we are living in the world of feeling and sensation, and think we are experiencing the world by the words we use. The written words in SNS are more like the spoken word. They have not been filtered or examined like the written word but are expressed with emotion and improvised like spoken words. Actions that we examine thoroughly are quite different from the actions we read about. Accustomed to the words of SNS the more quality like words and literary expression become strange.
YouTube was a big change to SNS and we know the shorter the better. Over 3 minutes the ability to concentrate on what is seen diminishes. When something is long and we are confronted with difficult words they tire us. SNS hampers our ability to listen. Those who speak are in the drivers seat, and listeners are often not focused. Communication has more to do with the listener than the speaker. To be a good listener requires reading and encounters to enter the intellectual world of the speaker.
Before we were able to utter a word, in our mothers womb we learned to listen. Sister wants us to remember this fact. The unborn child hearing the mother's voice and other sounds the brain is activated and the body develops. To that extent listening is the making of the person.
She concludes that a listening person opens their heart and knows how to humble themselves. Listening enables one to enter the world of the spiritual.
