I have been reading Mortimer Adler lately. With this post I will begin sharing some helpful quotes:

Listening, like reading, is primarily an activity of the mind, not of the ear or the eye. When the mind is not actively involved in the process, it should be called hearing, not listening; seeing, not reading.

-Mortimer Adler, How to Speak, How to Listen, pp. 85-86

If you get this principle, and realize that mind and heart are essentially one, you can understand what Jesus means in Matthew 13:13:

• This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

I highly recommend Adler’s How to Read a Book. I’ve written about it HERE.

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