Active vs Spiritual Listening is much more than simply hearing. Hearing is about receiving information, while listening is about communication, and calls for closeness. Listening allows us to get things right, and not simply to be passive onlookers, users or consumers. Listening also means being able to share questions and doubts, to journey side by side, to banish all claims to absolute power and to put our abilities and gifts at the service of the common good.
Active listening isĀ a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding. It is an important first step to defuse the situation and seek solutions to problems.
Spiritual listeningĀ embodies all of our senses as we offer ourselves to another freely and without expectation, providing the opening for deep communion. It is an exchange from the deepest level of our humanity, we feel at home with one another, resting in the grace and peace of our relationship.