February 9, 2025
It’s no secret that people who are good listeners usually make good friends. Here is a description from British novelist and poet Dinah Maria Mulock Craiks:
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort,
of feeling safe with a person,
having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words,
but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together,
certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping,
and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
The physical process of merely hearing the words spoken is woven with this wonderful and kind “emotional hearing.”
If you have a friend like this, you are wealthy indeed!
PS: Alfred Brendel reminds us that “listen” and “silent” have the same letters.
Simone Weil said that “Attention is the purest form of generosity.”
