Learning to Listen
Watching movies and reading books are very rewarding. You can lose yourself in far away places, find yourself in characters, and get caught up in the myriad of emotions. If they make you laugh, they've entertained. If they make you cry, it's cheap therapy.I find that among the more rewarding aspects, is fact that book and movies teach me how to listen. It's a media full of real-life conversations and questions. If we look hard enough, we learn how to understand people, how to see their perspective, and from it, we learn how to better communicate truth to them and try to answer their questions.
Here's a conversation I overheard today.
"The true work of improving this world is in the little achievements of the day. And that’s what you need to enjoy. The people who are the most giving hardworking and capable of making this world better usually don’t have the ego or ambition to be a leader. They don’t see any interest in superficial rewards; they don’t care if their name ever appears in the press. They actually enjoy the process of helping others. They’re in the moment."
"Yeah but that’s so hard, you know, to be in the moment. I mean, I just feel like I’m designed to be slightly dissatisfied with everything. I’m always trying to better my situation. I satisfy one desire and then it just agitates another, and then I think, to h--- with it, desire is the fuel of life. Do you think it’s true that if we never wanted anything than we’d never be unhappy?"
"Not wanting anything. Isn’t that a symptom of depression? It’s healthy to desire, right? I feel really alive when I want something more than the basics of life."
-dialogue between Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Before Sunset
I completely related. I have often struggled with how to be in the moment, and it really struck me that here were two movie characters asking the same thing. In listening to their conversation however, I learned more about what makes people tick. We all seek happiness, but without Christ, the goals and directions of our desires are different. I thought the line, "I satisfy one desire and then it just agitates another" especially summed up culture's obsession with self-fulfillment. Without Christ, desires will never really be satisfied.
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