How do I listen to someone when I disagree with them?
There are many ways to answer this. It takes a lot of
forgiveness, compassion, patience, and courage to listen in the face of
disagreement. I could write pages on each of these principles, but let's start
with the one thing that makes forgiveness, compassion, patience, and courage
possible.
We must work to hear the person not just the opinion.
My friend, Agape, says it like this:
“Hear the
Biography, not the ideology. ”
— Agape
When someone has a point of view we find difficult to
understand, disagreeable, or even offensive, we must look to the set of
circumstances that person has experienced that resulted in that point of view.
Get their story, their biography, and you’ll open up the
real possibility of an understanding that transcends disagreement.
Like the roots of a tree, our stories, which can create our
beliefs, are completely unique, and also connected. It is through story that we
can find common ground enough to co-exist in the face of great, often
necessary, tension.
When you find yourself in disagreement, just ask one
question:
“Will you tell me your story? I’d love to know how you came to this point
of view.”
Benjamin
Mathes
From
the blog, “Urban Confessional” July 27, 2016
____________________________________________________________________
How do we change the world
Really?!
How do we do it
But spouting out ideas
Our biases
Our anger
Even our wisdom
Or by listening,
And understanding
Having compassion, and actively caring
I love the response above
Open ended… simple….
Powerful!
Tell me about yourself
How you came to this place….
Imagine how the world would change if we just listened to
each other
Lord!
Please
Help me to be quiet
And listen
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