Cathyleen Rice

HMXP TR; 9:30-10:45

February 14, 2016
What has happened to Effective Communication?
In the search for knowledge, one must first inquire the path to be a good listener. While
actively listening as David Bohm would have us do, we take part in a structured conversation
that leads us into new ideas. Yet, many people struggle with the ability to actually listen. When
an individual becomes a listener, they dissect what is true to them, and often wish to block what
others may say is the TRUTH. For a long time, it has been utterly correct to interject ones
thoughts and prejudices into a conversation when being spoken to, especially when others ideas
do not coincide with their beliefs. I will argue that, in order for an effective conversation to take
place, one has to be willing to be a good listener so that different ideas construct the emergence
of something new, which influences both the speaker and the listener to seek truth.
In the reading, On Communication, David Bohm says people living in different nations,
with different economic and political systems, are hardly able to talk to each other without
fighting (12). The conditions that people find themselves living in affects the way that they
communicate with others. Often times, we stereotype that the girl who lives behind the picket
fence talks proper using correct English, whereas the boy who lives in public housing uses slang
to speak. However, in order for one to properly engage in a conversation, language barriers must
be broken so that the information being conveyed is easily understood. For that purpose, if two
people from the same environment were to have a conversation more than likely the slang or the
metaphors used during the conversation would be comprehended similarly as the person implied
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it. Conversely, two people from different social and economic backgrounds may not have the
same ability, to pass along information accurately. When the boy who lives from a different
neighborhood approaches the rich girl and uses the metaphor, all the worlds a stage, the guy
may have meant that his time will come where he may gain more wealth as he works along the
stage of life. To the rich girl this could mean that life is all about getting on the stage and
performing before the world. Nonetheless, a good communicator is able to quiet their thoughts
within themselves, understand what the speaker is saying, and restrict themselves from trying to
influence another person, while also listening without a prejudiced ear. While listening in on a
conversation, a new theme should be extracted from the conversation in which points of views
are able to create something contemporary. Both the speaker and the listener have obtained
knowledge and crafted truth. One has to be willing to search for what is true, and by the usage of
conversation (learning and sharing thoughts) it puts them on the path of leaving their comfort
zone of familiarity to being a great thinker.
When listening in conversation, each person needs to be interested primarily in truth
(Bohm, 13). According to Platos writing in The Allegory of the Cave, if one has the power to
learn, then they are able to turn from their own point of view and able to accept something new
wherein they may find truth (5). But, not everything spoken, should one take so dearly to be true.
Closed-minded people have a hard time listening and communicating effectively because they
want everything in the conversation to confirm their biases. People are prisoners of their
environments, because the things that they were taught as a child, are what they hold to be true,
and nothing apart from their world can cast them from deceiving, themselves. The problem
with conversing with them is nothing new emerges, their ignorance is not cured, and they seem
to maintain and defend regardless if they are right or wrong. They come into the conversation
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with a prejudiced ear, with two by fours placed upright in their minds, and they block out
information that could be of great significance. Therefore, the problem with effective
communication, remains insoluble. By communicating the Bohm-way, one should be able,
during a conversation, to let their guard down and saturate themselves with innovative material.
The speaker should be able to tear down those blocks and have the supposed listener contradict
his own truth. The listener is only required to absorb, develop, and turn from their darkness into
the light of truth. Thus, they shouldnt protect their individual thinking, but rather, allow
someone to freely talk without mind or ear interruptions. It is then that something common has
struck between both parties, which helps bring light to the darkness where the listener once lived.
Who we choose to have conversation with, why we choose to have the conversation, and
the time we choose to have it, effects when someone is truly listening and when someone is able
to create something common first, and then something unique. It is truly difficult to have a
conversation with someone and not interject ideas and opinions at any time. Being restricted
from bringing personal intellect and experience to a conversation is a waste of a conversation.
Diversity of ideas and opinions is the sole reason for having conversations. An effective
conversation involves active listening. If only one person talks, then that person has not heard
unlike ideas that may have helped them discover truth. They were not able to see things as the
listener did-- as the listener was able to hear uncommon facts, which led them to now be a good
learner. Educated people listen, and not only are they able to listen, but able to extricate new
ideas. A good learner is an educated person, because that person was willing to break away from
their own ideas and be turned toward what the speaker had to say. For an example, during his
time of trial, Socrates, although he knew he was an educated person, his quest to find knowledge
required him to listen and engage in conversation, so that he was able to believe and conclude
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that he was wisest man on earth. What has happened with having effective communication is the
result that no one is willing to take the time to listen! Everyone wants to voice their opinion,
rather than hear what others may have to say.
Most classes are structured where there are more lecturing to students than hearing
feedback from others in the class. That type of learning seems to be an easy way to listen actively
but, because dialogue is not present in the room, it makes it rather hard. The speaker is able to
share their biases concerning the topic, while the listeners arent able to raise their hands and
interject why the speaker may be wrong. Education in this sense, does not enlighten one to be
great communicators or great listeners. People close their ears to people who thinks they know it
all, which strays one away from being a listener at all. A great communicator encourages
feedback, which implies that they hope a good learner would not take everything that they say as
truth but, rather combat it with their own knowledge. When peers talk, they have an opened
world where language barriers are from time to time closed. They communicate without jargon,
such as the use of big words and making things hard to understand. Their language is so
common, that they can take part in actively listening and having an effective conversation where
they both can perceive and collect truth. Understanding is the key to it all. One should not
contradict if a person maybe wrong but, try to connect with that person by tearing down barriers
and turning each other to see things better than they were once seen before. It becomes obvious
that ideas are strengthen when established through the journey of pursuing a conversation. If
ones ear is willing to be intrigued with influential and transparent communication, then a
foundation can be established where the language is common, the learning is framed, and
progress has been made in becoming an effective listener.

Word Count: 1361