Deep Listening
Going deep has become somewhat of a lost art. With the quickening of our lives through incredible technological breakthroughs has also come a propensity toward skimming over life’s experiences in a manner that has been detrimental to our mental well-being. We have become a “drive-by” culture. In our rush, I fear, we have been left wanting in ways we may not even have a conscious awareness of; rather, we have been lulled into a perpetual state of stimulation. We are crashing through the days without a backwards glance.
As a young boy, there was a quaint little pond near my childhood home. I remember sitting on its edge during long summer days and watching the water striders, also known as pond skaters, glide across the surface. A peculiar insect capable of darting over the surface of water without sinking. Below them, existed a teeming world, full of multiple forms of plant and animal life. They moved quickly, traversing the length of the pond, with momentary pauses and lacking an understanding of the depths below them.
We are becoming like the water striders. Our world is deep and rich, infinitely more so than the pond, yet we barely notice it. Content to see the world in snippets, we treat it like an unwelcome guest at our exclusive party. Truth be known we are the guests in this bursting garden of variety known as Earth. Treasures and mysteries abound here, awaiting the awakening of our awareness and an investigative curiosity to explore them. Think of it as a study abroad program, in which we have left our natural home and are here for a brief stay. We need to absorb as much as we possibly can.
In our frenzy to get from here to there, we hurry through conversations, meals, walks, and commutes with nary a pause to be in the moment. Missing critical information and understanding, lacking appreciation for the food we eat, oblivious to the beauty and grandeur of the natural world, and watching the world through car windows as we buzz along to our destinations. Glancing across life’s waters, we fail to see the riches lying below the surface.
My message this week is to challenge ourselves to go deeper. Stop and smell the roses. Make a pact with yourself to slow down in those areas that you are like the “water striders” darting across the surface. Only you know what those are but I am certain they exist. None of us are exempt from this cultural virus. It takes effort, commitment, and a desire to not be satisfied with superficiality or pursuing the most widely traveled or convenient path. After all, these choices do put us on a path. One might call it the quick route vs the scenic one. I am suggesting the scenic one… it often holds more rewards.
In closing, I leave you with a famous poem penned by the Robert Frost:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Written by: Urban Shaman
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