July 2004

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MESSAGE FOR JULY 2004

LISTEN!

It has been acknowledged the World over that we of this country are great exponents of both the spoken and the written word. In keeping with the articulate nature of human kind generally, we learn to talk at a very tender age, move on to the written word a little later, and then enter a garrulous phase, mostly, which never ends.

Many years ago, I took a seminar on communication with a learned Professor from one of the Ivy League U.S. halls of learning who was seconded to one of our then infant Institutes of Management. By way of conversation I asked him what his abiding impressions on the communication abilities of Indians were after his sojourn of about three years in the country. His prompt answer was that Indians had the unique ability of talking and listening at the same time!

What he meant to convey was that our capacity for listening was in no way commensurate with our capacity for talking. In fact, if one of a couple in conversation is silent, he is not really listening, but waiting for an opportunity to take over the conversation. In fact, the age-old admonition to us when we were children, not to interrupt when someone was talking, has as adults been converted to say don’t talk while I am interrupting!

I have noticed therefore that we have difficulty in understanding questions, as we rush off to provide answers before we understand, by really listening, to the question being posed. This happens all the time even in work-a-day life, whether you are in a shop, in an office, in a class-room, or even in a sophisticated quiz contest!

I can assure you that I know because I had to teach myself to listen, to actively listen in all my transactions with other fellow beings, which has greatly increased my own knowledge and development. I am still working on it!

As Men and Masons, much would be gained by us, likewise, from active listening to our rituals, and thereby to understand their symbolisms and meanings relevant to our lives. To listen is to empathise, to be receptive, to be concerned about the message! To listen to your conscience, or inner voice is also morally essential. So do Listen!