Author Foreword

In listening to the SONG of Life, I invite you to explore your responses to the questions in the previous introductory section. This will prepare you to increase your knowledge and cultivate your skills for deeper and more profound listening encounters. SONG is an acronym for listening to Self, Others, Nature, and the Divine (abbreviated as “G” for Goddess-God in the SONG acronym). Review the previous set of questions and notice the four SONG contexts. The first set of three questions is about listening to Self (S), the second, listening to Others (O), the third, listening to Nature (N), and the fourth, listening to the Goddess-God-the Divine (G). I invite you to travel with me through the four listening contexts throughout this book. As you journey, you will collect listening knowledge and practices that enrich, fulfill, and satisfy your listening encounters throughout the entire SONG of life. As you read, I hope you discover that everything is singing a song that is part of the greater SONG of life. Listen with me.

How the Book is Organized

I invite you into the magnanimous world of listening to the SONG of life. In this world, sensory and intuitive abilities are cultivated to intentionally listen to life within us, with other humans, the natural world, and the Divine. Developing these natural listening capacities enriches our mind, body, and spirit and integrates these areas into a broader sense of self that finds interconnections with many life forms, forces, and energies.

The book pairs listening theory and research with listening practices. Each chapter opens with an original haiku. The haikus can be used to practice listening for poetic possibilities.^[1] The first chapter provides a rationale for, and description of, listening to the SONG of life followed by an autoethnographic journey that led to developing and teaching the Listening to the SONG of Life college course. The next four chapters follow the sequence of the listening to the SONG of life contexts for self, others, nature, and Goddess-God-the Divine. Chapter Seven covers developing and testing an assessment measure for listening to the SONG of life called L-SONG. And the closing chapter explores future research, experiential learning activities, and resources relevant to listening to the SONG of life.

Who Should Read Listening to the SONG of Life?

Instructors, Scholars, and Students of Listening

Listening to all of life is a paradigm shift in the academic field of listening. Teachers, researchers, and students of listening will find the perspective of listening to the SONG of life a radical departure from the traditional academic view of listening to others. Innovative ideas, especially in academia, are not readily accepted so I include research evidence from journals, books, case studies, and interviews wherever possible to support the new perspective of listening to the SONG of life.

Scholars will find novel resources on listening to engage with and add to their research agenda. Instructors will find a variety of experiential learning activities to incorporate into their listening courses. With creative modifications, the experiential activities are adaptable to primary and secondary grades and other venues like workshops and retreats. Students, both undergraduate and graduate, will find an abundance of new listening topics for projects and papers and a wealth of activities to experiment with to hone their listening skills.

Individuals with Specific Interests in Listening

Each of the four SONG contexts holds possibilities to enrich the lives of individuals with specific interests in listening. I suggest several listening opportunities for each of the SONG contexts. Those interested in mind-body medicine and placebo effects in health care and healing will discover ideas related to self-listening as mindfulness. Those working in counseling relational dyads and small groups, mediation in the legal system, and negotiating in business will find fresh ways to listen to others with compassionate empathy. Organizations that promote outdoor activities in nature, like Outward Bound, summer camps for children, and wilderness survival, will find the innovative ideas for listening to nature as will those engaged in gardening, permaculture, and regenerative farming. Finally, I offer those with a sense of the Divine (however they conceive the Divine) several options for experiential and embodied practices for listening to the Divine.

Why listen to me?

My journey to becoming a full professor at Old Dominion University began with a broad humanities and social science background from a unique degree I created called “Human Relations and Communication Studies.”^[2] I specialized in interpersonal communication in my Master’s and Doctoral degrees with concentrations in stories, statistics, credibility, and educational psychology. I am a Communication Professor in the Communication and Theatre Arts Department of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. In this capacity, I develop unique courses in Nonviolent Communication and Peace, Communicating Love, Dream Research Methods, and Listening to the SONG of Life.^[3] I taught twenty-four different communication courses during my thirty-three years at my home institution.

My research agenda in the last decade focuses on autoethnographies related to teaching the courses I’ve developed, especially the Listening to the SONG of Life course. I published thirty-three peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles and presented thirty-seven conference papers. Over half of this research is housed in Old Dominion University’s Digital Commons repository. These publications are available through Old Dominion’s Perry Library at no charge to anyone with internet access.^[4] Activity on my Digital Common’s site shows over 8000 downloads represented by seven hundred and sixty-nine organizations from one hundred and fifty countries worldwide as of January 2023.

An Invitation

Welcome to listening to the SONG of life! Let us begin our journey by exploring what it means enter the more magnanimous world of listening to all of life, oneself, plants, animals, elementals, the Divine, and other humans. May we learn to listen to the intricacies, delicacies, and beauties of the entire SONG of life, beginning with Chapter One.

E. James Baesler

Summer, 2024