Nobody is Listening: A Falsehood of Our Time

Last updated on: November 3, 2020 at 12:17 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Nobody is Listening: A Falsehood of Our Time 2020-11-03T00:17:26-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What if nobody is listening?

Listening, God help me, is harder for me than is talking. At age seven, I could blatherskite with the best and if anyone ever talked themselves to death that person would have been little me. My Mom could not have listened to all I had to say about stuff if she tried. Mom did the best she could. After a bit, it occurred to me that all the boiling ideas in my mind that seemed so important to me might not have been so important in fact.

My Dad, master of the spoken word, said something to me as he got older: “I have less to say.” I understand that better now as I have less to say. See enough, read enough, experience enough pain, and there is a limit to what you are willing to say.

Talking was easy as a child. Finding a listener was hard, as it should have been since (as a child!) I only had childish things to say. A good listener married me, thank God, but the biggest change over the last few years has been Hope saying more that she always had been thinking and my saying less: much less. She has taught me to listen and (hopefully) I have encouraged her to use her “outside the head voice.”

Hope was an example of person who talked a great deal, but only in her mind. She had strong opinions, but too often kept them to herself. I was not listening, but she was not talking. There can be no listening without talking.

So far so easy to see, if hard to do. We should talk less and listen more. We could put that on an inspirational poster and hang it in a classroom. There is a deeper problem, but we wiggle away from the fact that we do not have to listen if we placate, pacify, pander to anyone we think may disagree with us. We say polite nothings to those we suspect could expose our half-truths, our equivocations, or our fictional history. Often, as I grew older, I would talk to Mom and Dad and discover that my self-serving memories of my life were entirely wrong. I had constructed a convenient fiction and when we hashed out the truth, when I listened to them, risked a real conversation, I grew.

This can be very hard. I had learned to listen, but now I had to learn to talk to the right people, in sincerity, at the proper time. This was much harder: the Socratic dialectic is a hard teacher. There is no compromise: one must seek out the best interlocutors and examine everything. Talking is as hard as listening in that context!

A falsehood of our time is this: “We can examine our ideas without talking them out, listening, understanding.” Talking is often a necessary prelude to listening. Listening is necessary if we wish to talk. We cannot love our enemies, or even our friends, if we will not sincerely talk to them and then, having given our best lines, our most persuasive arguments, listening to what they have to say. This is an era where nobody is listening, because nobody is talking to anybody who might shatter their fragile views.

A conversation is necessary for education, so says Socrates and Jesus, but a conversation needs listening. Listening, however, requires sincere talking. Plato’s greatest work, Republic, almost died when Socrates, the man who loved discussion, became afraid, weary, and unwilling to talk. He was done. Nobody was listening and if nobody is listening to wisdom then nobody can be persuaded. The dialogue is saved when two bold young men say some things, some foolish things, some wise things, some wicked things, but ideas sincerely held. Socrates could work with that, listen to that.

So we should all be: listen, talk, listen. Live to discuss sincerely with all our being.

On Education

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

October 31, 2020

Cowardice is not Mercy

Next Post

November 2, 2020 Asking a Real Question (A Nod Toward Meno)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both ___________.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Yourself and God God and Anyone Else God and Money Masters

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »