For human beings, the capacity for dialogue is essential to understanding and genuine exchange. For those of us—doctors, psychotherapists, priests, or simply friends—who stand before another person to help them, dialogue becomes the foundation for growth: our own and theirs. It is the basis of all healing. We have all felt this truth. We have all yearned for it. But how do we cultivate this capacity in ourselves? How do we learn it?
Beginning with a simple premise—that dialogue rests on three equally vital elements: speech, silence, and listening—a group of psychotherapists and healthcare and pastoral workers gathered at Pro Civitate Christiana in Assisi to explore the aspect that may be hardest and most overlooked: listening itself.
This book is the fruit of that encounter. It brims with insights, questions, and answers, enriched by an excellent bibliography for those who wish to go deeper still.
The contributions from the Assisi researchers spring from long experience in medical and healthcare practice, analytic approaches, humanistic and transpersonal psychology, and pastoral work.
All seem to agree on this: the quality of listening rests above all on self-knowledge and on the willingness to question ourselves and accept the other person unconditionally. The depth of listening and its power to heal flow from complete respect for the human being.
Bruno Giordani, a professor of psychology at the Ateneo Antonianum in Rome, recalls the evangelist who noted that Mary "treasured all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51). He continues: "To listen and to hold in one's heart—this is true receptive listening, the kind that can heal the person who sees that their message is received with respect, kept with love, nurtured with trusting expectation, and tended with brief words that keep that message alive, always honoring the meaning the speaker has given it."
These words invite us each to long reflection.
- Natalia Livi, 1992