Re(1): Listening to the notorious

Hello Carl,

Thank you very much for writing; your words encourage me. And you are correct. Listening to others truly is a virtue and that is where great wisdom is learned. If we listen to all people carefully, our sense of what is wise and unwise will increase; we will know the wisdom that comes out of the mouth of babes when we hear it just as readily as that that comes from the often silver-haired men and women of great renown. We are wise to exercise caution in listening to those persons with poor reputations for truth; we still do well to give them the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. You and I in particular know what it is to be looked down upon as untrustworthy and untrusting and perhaps if someone would just have given us the benefit of the doubt and listened to us, we might have become more than we were even then. It is a simple fact that we can often change others for the better just by listening to them and taking their words seriously.

We do well not to shut the person with the poor reputation out entirely. Likewise, considered reflection should accompany the truth we glean from even our most beloved, for even those most wise are sometimes mistaken. As much as anything, while we stressed listening in A Bit Like Shelving, circumspection is the second half of that virtue: the idea, as we have emphasized before, is that of being as shrewd as serpents and as gentle as doves. As for our term "circumspection," it literally meant "to look around" in its native Latin form and suggests the idea of keeping our eyes and ears open and our mouths mostly shut; it suggests the idea of being prudent. When we add the second half of our Lord's admonition to be as gentle as doves, it also suggests that we transform others by our love and by our example.

And yes, integrity means wholeness or (the structural) soundness of character. We call such a person solid and dependable, not because he is never wrong but because such instances are far and few between. And when he is wrong and knows he is wrong, he generally goes back and makes things right as much as he can. His simple act of humility in going back and saying, "I was wrong," and "I am sorry," speaks volumes and often makes us love him even more. We are not unwise to place a premium on his words, yet even in all our love and respect for him we know that he is not always correct even when he is not overtly wrong; he is not always correct even when he has not in any way been "out of the way" with us or anyone else.

So then, if we keep our eyes and ears open and our mouths often shut, we will detect the wisdom even in the speech of babes. Further, if we recognize "what ye do unto the least of these," our love will cover over a multitude of sins. The wisdom of the cold and beady-eyed carries them a long way in life but the wisdom of love, however foolish it seems to many, is by far the more powerful and difficult.

God bless,
Eric

• Re(2): Listening to the notorious - By Carl January 1, 2006 at 08:35:24 PM
  • Re(3): Listening to the notorious - By Sara January 22, 2006 at 05:49:04 PM
  • Re(3): Listening to the notorious - By karen January 2, 2006 at 08:13:54 AM