1.8 Chapter Summary

A review of the literature on listening in the field of Communication defines listening as a perceptual, meaning-making, and interpretive process between humans. A broader definition of listening includes listening to non-humans like nature and the Divine, and a way of knowing that includes intuitive faculties in addition to the five senses. This inclusive, broader definition of listening I call listening to the SONG of Life where SONG stands for listening to self, others, nature, and God-Goddess-the Divine. This magnanimous perspective of listening to the SONG of life is defined and illustrated using a typology, metaphors, and a system’s perspective. The interrelationships between the four subsystems of the SONG are illustrated. These ideas represent the foundation for understanding listening to the SONG of Life. In the next chapter, I narrate an autoethnographic account of how the Listening to SONG of Life course developed and is taught as an undergraduate-graduate college course.