At day break, I heard the bird call of a Bulbul and I walked in that direction. The bird call, in the stillness of the morning, immediately after the rain receded, was tunefully striking in the ear. As I watched this Bulbul, I noticed a bird movement in the vicinity.
The first bird to to arrive was another Bulbul, photo below, and perched itself in an adjoining tree, moving its body attentively in the direction of the bird call. Its stillness and rapt attention to the bird call was indicative of an emotional response. The three phots below of this Bulbul suggest that the attention to the bird call was by choice.
Soon I noticed the arrival of another Bulbul in a tree close by. The Bulbul below, positioned itself to hear the bird call in the direction, from where the call originated.
The two listening Bulbuls stayed till the Bulbul who was giving away the Bird calls, flew away to another flight station.
The singing Bulbul and the listenings Bulbuls!
Although this might be a common feature of avian behaviour, it stayed with me for a while in the morning.
On a Sunday morning, this scene created a resonance within me of the story of Samuel, who having heard him called by his name three times, when he was lying down, came to Eli, the priest, to enquire if he had called him. The priest discerning that it was God who called Samuel, suggested to Samuel, to say next time, 'Speak Lord, for Thy servant is listening' (I Samuel 4:9). It was this listening attitude that enabled Samuel to hear what God had to say about Eli and his sons.
The listening attention is a habit that I find hard to practice. There is a hurry to speak. While listening, one can be dragged by one's thoughts or responses that the listening attention gets replaced by organising the thoughts to speak.
The two Bulbuls listened with their whole body. They remained still and their look conveyed the intent to listen. Their body remained still and turned towards the direction of the bird call.
I find a simialr look in Dulcie's face when we call her. She would look intently and wait to hear what we are about to say! When I ask her, ' want to go out', she would wag her tail and get up to go. If she does not want to go out, she would come close and give a lick.
The listening attitude calls for attention and regardful processing of what we hear and whom we hear. Listening without hesitation or inhibition is a way of being fully present to listen.
I find that, three attitudinal behaviours can spring within us when we give attention to listen. I feel drawn in to what is being spoken, which is one way of regarding the person who is speaking. In being drawn into the orbit of another person's thoughts and needs, there is an opportunity to be self giving as a token of receiving the person who is speaking. A person speaks to be heard and received. What proceeds from this is the feeling of an inner nearness towards that person. The nearness is to the person and not towards his or her thoughts. A person takes precedence over his thoughts or behaviour.
A moving illustration of this came from the attitude of Jesus of Nazareth towards Nathaniel (John 1:46-47). When Philip invited Nathaniel to come and see Jesus, Nathaniel said in a despising manner: 'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth'! When Jesus saw Nathaniel, He said, 'Behold an Israelite, in whom there is no guile'! Jesus saw in Nathaniel a person of virtue. Jesus transcended the attitude that Nathaniel had towards Him. Listening is a way of becoming a neighbour to the one who is speaking. To be a neighbour would mean to 'love the neighbour as yourself'!
The singing Bulbul had two listening neighbours.
What inspires me is this call to so listen and speak that we receive the other person as a neighbour!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment