Flowers For Socrates

“If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.” 
— Turkish Proverb

“To listen fully means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not only to the ‘music,’ but to the essence of the person speaking. You listen not only for what someone knows, but for what he or she is. Ears operate at the speed of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light the eyes take in. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can slow our mind’s hearing to your ears’ natural speed, and hear beneath the words to their meaning.” 

— Peter Senge, American systems scientist, and founder of  the Society for Organizational Learning

Amy Lowell (1874-1925) American poet born in Brookline Massachusetts: considered part of the imagist school of poetry; The Complete Poetical Works of Amy Lowell was first published in 1925, the year of her death, and then re-issued in 1955. Lowell was awarded the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry posthumously.

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To read Amy Lowell’s poem “Listening” click

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