To be the thought present in passive listening, is to see it completely
with the heart and the mind, to observe it neutral as in a mirror, without
saying yes and no, and feel it deeply and incisively, without seeking to
achieve anything with it.
And this presence is not itself such a thought-process. The presence is
always something new, young and spontaneous.
The thought is the eternal recurrence of the same, and therefore never
new.
The passive listening presence and the active evaluating thinking are
two completely different things, and they can never meet.
But the habitual in our surroundings dulls us, so we shrug our shoulders
and say: ”What is the use of it? That is the way of life”.
Thereby we spoil our sensitivity, so that we never act, when we are
facing hideousness, exploitation, cruelty and suffering. Also our admiration
and deep joy over all beauty are destroyed.
In this way, our life of feelings slowly and imperceptibly withers away.
