LISTENING AND HEARING — Let’s unravel the mystery of comprehension.

While hearing and listening are often used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings worth exploring.

Hearing is the passive process of perceiving sound. We hear even without focusing on it.

Conversely, listening is an active and intentional process that requires conscious attention and effort to understand, interpret, and respond to what is being heard.

Every morning in my garden, I HEAR various birds chirping, squirrels squeaking, and crickets stridulating, along with the sprinkling of the water bodies. I enjoy Nature’s gift and pleasing sounds. I love it.

However, I adore listening to the soul of sounds and the tones of complete silence. It’s about tuning in to the surface melody or noise and the emotional and spiritual resonance within.

I am intrigued: is it the Hearing that gives the high, or is it the soulful Listening I adore? Soulful listening is about hearing the sounds and understanding the emotions and spiritual resonance within them. In a way, music stirs memories, like nature’s sounds bringing calm or how silence can speak volumes.

The famous proverb: ‘Hearing from one ear, goes out from the other.’ We hear so many sounds, lectures, sermons and talks 24\7, but do they make an impact?

No, they don’t; they rarely stay in our minds. What we hear enters our auditory systems and creates a temporary impression. The imprint is so dull and trivial that it loosens its grip quickly.

What we genuinely listen to finds a place in our brains and makes a lasting impact, transforming our understanding and perspective. This transformative power of listening can inspire us to pay more attention and be more present in our interactions, motivating us to practice active listening daily.

“Hey! Did you hear Jagjeet Singh’s latest album?”

“Yes, I did — it was OK.” But I listened to one Ghazal, and that was superb.”

The Hearing was mundane, but listening to a single Ghazal left an impact, and I am still humming it.

Music seeps into your soul when you listen to it. Music vibrates the eardrum when you hear it.

“Hearing is listening to what is said. Listening is hearing what isn’t said.” SIMON SINEK

Listening is when you decipher the sound’s meaning through your intellect and create a deep-seated impression that nurtures you.

When you listen to somebody completely and attentively, you are listening to the words and the feeling of what is being conveyed—to the whole of it, not part of it.

When you want the other person to understand and take you seriously, you should talk less, giving him space to listen. When you speak more, the person hears and forgets what you said. From listening comes wisdom, and from speaking repentance. The opposite of talking is not listening but waiting.

Listening is an art that values attention over talent, spirit over ego, and others over self. As DEAN JACKSON wisely said, it’s not about how well you can talk that truly matters, but how well you can listen.

The biggest problem in our social circles is that people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen intending to reply. Understanding should take precedence over replying, as it makes the speaker feel valued and respected. This realisation can bring about a sense of enlightenment and introspection in our communication habits.

There is a breed that yearns to spill over the moment they find a docile and benign ear. They love to do a nonstop monosyllable dialogue, making the listener’s life miserable. For them, the question is not if an empathetic ear hears them; the intent is to keep talking irreverently.

The quieter I became, the more I could listen. This emphasis on patience in listening can bring about a sense of calm and collectedness in our interactions.

During the CORONA lockdown and social distancing, I realised that not Hearing but Listening improved my life. My writing and comprehension skills got a boost as I became a Listener: a listener of emotions and sensuality of love and internal satisfaction, leading to personal growth and introspection. For instance, I found that by truly listening to my loved ones, I was able to understand their needs and feelings better, leading to stronger relationships.

“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” DALAI LAMA

See if I hear or listen to you whenever you are with me. You can judge my mannerisms and expressions to UNDERSTAND me. You will adore me if I listen to you because I will reciprocate your version subtly and intelligently.

The music and hymns I listened to in my childhood are still deep in my head. I remember the lyrics and the notations and can reproduce them exactly. But the millions of songs I just heard on the media vanished from my memory.

My mother’s preaching, which I listened to, made and sculpted my persona. But several sermons by mundane people that I barely heard flew in the wind.

“She became the love of my life. I listened to what she spoke through the sound of her silence and the voice of her eyes. The less she spoke, the more I listened. The more I listened, the more I sailed in the sea of emotions and sensuality and could never return”.

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