When I first glanced at the title, I thought about how I could recognize the difference between hearing and listening. The first thing that springs to mind is that hearing is a passive sense and listening is an active action. After watching Pauline’s speech, I understood how much more profound listening is than I had imagined. She studies, practices, instructs, and encourages deep listening as a new approach to comprehending the world. She wants to cultivate a habit of deep listening, which was something I had never thought of before.
I started to go back to a moment when I was closely paying attention to a specific sound. In truth, as I gazed at the sea, I would concentrate my attention on the sound of the waves, picture the view across the sea, and think back on the stories that had occurred at the shore. Perhaps sensation is more premised on focus. Our collective attention and listening create different dimensions that overlap, intersect, and even combine, with space and time, imagination and memory. Therefore, it’s possible that I listened more than I recognized, and that what I ignored was there in front of me.
The notion of deep listening proposed by Pauline also reminded me of my harvest as a yogi. My attention and awareness are strengthened via vinyasa and meditation, which results in a greater sensation of my body, mind, and environment. And assist me to feel the power and the grace of the world.
On the other hand, deep listening also fosters a habit related to life’s aesthetics. One of my favorite Chinese artists, Chiang Hsun, advocated the concept of aesthetics of life. In his belief, beauty manifests love and attention to the little things in normal life. Beauty is valued more when the economy grows prosperous. Slowing down to focus on feeling is the lesson of beauty.
Additionally, which makes me more impressed is her talent and greater bravery. Her willingness to move outside of her comfort zone, to temporarily set aside her naturally hypersensitive senses and consciousness, and to look at the universal audiovisual universe. She put a lot of time and effort into studying how to get common people to hear and see her romantic and mysterious world. Talent is insufficient. Helping people in a positive way requires great bravery.