The context of a statement is not heard by most people. People get stuck in individual content, all of which makes up the context. When words are spoken, most people will react to certain words in the message, and disregard the totality of what is spoken. Fragmentation results, first in the minds of the individuals and then moves into the fragmentation of the conversation.
When you listen to the entirety of the message, a different message is received from the one that the individual words are sending. You can then look to where the words are pointing. If you listen to where the words are pointing, you will then be listening from the place of the message, the context.
For example, if there is a discussion about our government, one speaker might say the democrats are ruining the country, and the democrat will retort that it is the republicans, when in actuality it is our government that is creating the mess. The government is the context but each side is lost in the fragmentation of their own thinking. That is small- minded thinking, for the content of their minds are already in the argument of who is doing what, who is right and who is wrong. When one person starts talking, the person listening will either agree or disagree with the content, and then he starts thinking of what he wants to say about what the other person has just said. You can observe this in people who interrupt when another is speaking. When that happens all listening ends.
Fragmented listening permeates society as a whole and the world ends up in chaos. For the most part, people just cannot hear beyond their own opinions and beliefs. All listening stops when your mind starts reacting to what the other person is saying because you have your own opinions on the matter.
People consider themselves to be right in every instance of what their minds tell them, and usually they can’t wait to voice their opinions. Others, ones who already have an opinion of what is being said, will just walk away, not listen or ignore the one who is talking.
When the individual learns to listen in an uninterrupted manner to the entirety of what another is saying, what is said will be heard completely. In that complete listening, 100 percent is achieved. It is only in being 100 percent, that our lives can be complete, and life begins with listening 100 percent.
If you would like to learn more about your possibility for Transformation or bringing forth a New Consciousness, perhaps visit my website: A New Consciousness Born.
Edward Jones, New Consciousness Coach and Author.
Being a therapist myself, I appreciate your blog post. Thanks.