I never contemplated that there might be two different verbs for this action until I took French language classes in Grade 7. I can remember my confusion at the fact that the French gave 2 different words for hearing and listening. Although I knew of the words in English, learning them in a new language brought up the difference. At that stage I committed to the memorization of these verbs rather than the understanding.
Ecouter – to listen to
Entendre – to hear
Motherhood probably brought all of this back to me, when I would say to a child, “Listen to me.” I was also awakened to these differences when I would hear a child give me a message and then later realize that I had not actually digested the meaning of the message!
To hear, and to listen to. Which is easier? To hear really tells of the physicality of the act, it addresses the sense organ itself. We will get hearing aids, not listening aids. To listen to tells the internal effects of the hearing.
It was the listening to that I found more challenging. It was the verb that pulled at my entire being, when I just wanted to hear what someone was saying, wanted to quickly package up how that sounded to me, and give out a reaction. It was the listening to that pushed me into an awareness of my responsibility as a receiver.
Listening to… letting the information make its way from my hearing receptacle to my heart. Letting the information reside quietly in my being. Saying to a child, “Give me a moment to give you an answer on that.”
A Reaction comes from the head, it comes from the scripts that we have on how life should be. A Response comes from the heart, from the essence of that particular situation in that particular moment. It speaks of truth.
Interestingly, in French class we learned “to listen to” before we learned “to hear.”
“Listen to the Salutation of the Dawn…” May we listen into each moment of each day.
Shanthi
