Page 15 - Rudolf Giesselmann - Photo Book - just listen

“An essential part of true listening is the discipline of bracket-

ing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one’s own prej-
udices, frames of reference and desires so as to experience as

far as possible the speaker’s world from the inside, step in in-

side his or her shoes. This unification of speaker and listener is

actually an extension and enlargement of ourselves, and new
knowledge is always gained from this. Moreover, since true

listening involves bracketing, a setting aside of the self, it also

temporarily involves a total acceptance of the other. Sensing

this acceptance, the speaker will fell less and less vulnerable
and more and more inclined to open up the inner recesses of

his or her mind to the listener. As this happens, speaker and

listener begin to appreciate each other more and more, and

the duet dance of love is begun again.”

M. Scott Peck (1936 - 2005), American psychiatrist