Note: Listening is the key to learning a new language. One must train the ears to hear every sound, every syllable, every inflection.
The following are the
words given to me by an old Lakota medicine man many years ago…
Iw
e’najmoyan.
Neaseno.
HEARING/LISTENING.
Hearing
people is one thing,
But
listening to them is quite another.
The
ART of listening
Is
something which needs to be
Practiced
over and over again,
To
gain that mastery
Over
your mind and keep from
Putting
your mouth in gear
When
you should be listening.
For
how can you be listening
If
you continue to speak,
While
others are talking?
I
sometimes get the impression
Some
folks do not hear what others are saying
To
them because they are busy
Formulating
what they are going to say/ask.
So,
how can one listen
If
one is busy thinking on one’s response?
Some
folks call it “active listening,”
This
business of asking questions for
Some
supposed clarification,
But
again I would ask,
How
can one listen,
If
they are busy thinking
On
what they are going to say/ask?
My
forefathers always told me
To
listen and I have strived
To
do exactly that!
I
was encouraged to cultivate
“the
ART of listening,”
to
the point of being able
to
hear what the trees,
flowers,
and grasses
were
thinking and saying.
When
I could hear
What
all the rest of CREATION
Was
saying,
Then
I could truly hear
What
humanity was trying to say also.
Don’t
ask questions!
Just
LISTEN!
That
is what the OLD PEOPLE
Would
say to me.
And
each of my elders
Reinforced
that to me
In
various ways
Throughout
my life.
We
hear with our left brain
And
we listen with our right brain!
A type of marriage
Must take place, if we are to HEAR
With
our “whole self/being.”
There
are both HEARERS/LISTENERS
In
this world.
Which
are you?
Something
to further consider:
I
have instructed my soul and spirit to listen
So
that my whole being can hear.
I
listen also to what is not being said!
That
is why I answer people in the manner
I
sometimes do,
Because
I hear and listen
To
things they are not saying,
But
thinking.
We
must think before we can speak!
However,
if we learn to listen,
Then
we can think more clearly,
Thus,
more quickly when it is time to do so,
And
the ensuing answer is much more
Appropriate
for the intended ear(s).
Charles
Kills Enemy (1983)
Lakota Wicasa Wakan