There Are Many Voices Beside Ours

"I will listen. Maybe I’ll stop listening if I don’t like what you are saying, but I won’t interrupt you." Though I seem to grasp the heart of the matter, it arouses some questions in my mind: 1. Can we listen beyond our likes and dislikes ? 2. Why stop listening ? And if we stop listening, what will my mind do ? Either it would RESIST what is being said or go back to its old habit of mechanically wandering here and there denying itself the valuable opportunity of mindfully living in the Here & Now. 3. After all, when we listen to this chirping of birds or a tree's leaves rustling in the breeze, don't we put aside this whole business of agreeing or disagreeing? 4. And why fear interrupting the speaker if he/she is talking nonsense ? Yes, we have to be utterly polite--while saying, "I am sorry, what you're talking doesn't interest me, so why waste our time ? 5. Last but not least, I humbly suggest not to callously and indifferently 'go away'--without saying 'thank you for sharing your ideas and views'. I think basically the problem is that the text has been phrased rather too naively. Yes, there is no doubt that the trees, the mountains , the whole Universe keeps whispering the words of wisdom to us which gets drowned in the tumult of our non-meditative mind.

I have to agree with all the points you have made here, Hareshwar Singh. It seems disrespectful to shut down listening or trying to learn a different perspective.