Falling in love is not an extension of one's limits or boundaries; it is a partial and temporary collapse of them.
M. Scott PeckRead
Listening well is an exercise of attention and by necessity hard work. It is because they do not realize this or because they are not willing to do the work that most people do not listen well.
Interpretation
Effective listening requires focused effort and attention, which many people overlook or avoid.
In this quote, M. Scott Peck emphasizes the importance of active listening as a skill that demands intentional effort and dedication. He points out that the inability to listen well stems from a lack of awareness or willingness to engage deeply with others, suggesting that true listening is more than just hearing words; it involves understanding and connecting with the speaker at a profound level.
In practice
During a workshop on communication skills, you can use this quote to highlight the need for active listening.
Falling in love is not an extension of one's limits or boundaries; it is a partial and temporary collapse of them.
If your goal is to avoid pain and escape suffering, I would not advise you to seek higher levels of consciousness or spiritual evolution.
All my life I used to wonder what I would become when I grew up. Then, about seven years ago, I realized that I was never going to grow up--that growing is an ever ongoing process.
When we love someone our love becomes demonstrable or real only through our exertion - through the fact that for that someone (or for ourself) we take an extra step or walk an extra mile. Love is not effortless. To the contrary, love is effortful.
An unconscious, gentle process whereby people who want to be loving attempt to be so by telling little white lies, by withholding some of the truth about themselves and their feelings in order to avoid conflict. Pseudocommunity is conflict-avoiding; true community is conflict-resolving.
Idealists are people who believe in the potential of human nature for transformation. . . . The most essential attribute of human nature is its mutability and freedom from instinct . . . it is always within our power to change our nature. So it is actually the idealists who are on the mark and the realists who are off base.
Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners.
There is only one excuse for a speaker's asking the attention of his audience: he must have either truth or entertainment for them.
In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.
All communication involves faith; indeed, some linguisticians hold that the potential obstacles to acts of verbal understanding are so many and diverse that it is a minor miracle that they take place at all.
Listen twice as much as you speak.
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.