Document Type

Undergraduate Student Scholarship

Publication Date

Spring 5-8-2018

Instructor

Matthew Davis, PhD and Emily Wu, PhD

Course Number

English 3200

Course Name

Advanced Writing and Research

Abstract

Active listening is the act of listening with all senses– the body, the mind, and the soul. It means empathizing with another person and finding that place within ourselves where we can listen beyond our initial judgements and personal feelings. It is listening beyond words and allowing our souls to understand, connect, and accept one another. Active listening sparks internal purity eliminating all types of judgement and allowing us to truly take in what another person has to offer. It is “an experience of language as a bodily felt process” in which we have a felt understanding rather than a cognitive understanding (Levin, 1998, p. 319). Active listening has the potential to create transformation by eliminating internal imbalance allowing us to act in ways that limit bias and create raw, genuine experiences in which we open ourselves to one another and allow people to see each other for who we are as individuals.

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