Assessing Listening to the SONG of Life
7.1 Reviewing the SONG of Life Contexts
The Listening to the SONG of Life course represents four interrelated contexts in the lifeworld. The acronym SONG stands for the first letter in each of the following words, Self, Others, Nature, and Goddess-God-the Divine. The four listening contexts of SONG are interpreted as interrelated ways of being in the world. Before discussing the development and testing of L-SONG, I briefly review the four listening contexts.
I provide a short description of each listening SONG context, and a sample of sources consulted for the development of items representing each of the four listening contexts in L-SONG. Listening to self (“S” in SONG) involves being centered, open and aware of one’s thoughts, emotions, and needs. Kabat-Zinn’s mindfulness[1] and LeClaire’s ideas about solitude and silence[2] inform the development of items for listening to self (see items 1 through 4 for L-SONG in Appendix B). Listening to others (“O” in SONG) means listening to their verbal and nonverbal messages and listening to their emotions and needs with compassionate empathy. Rosenberg’s empathy,[3] Janusik’s listening pedagogy,[4] and Pecchioni and Halone’s relational listening[5] are sources that support the development of items for the listening to other’s context (see items 5 through 7 in Appendix B). Our awareness of the lifeworld that includes non-humans in the natural world is listening to nature (“N” in SONG). Cohen’s multi-sensory view of nature,[6] Beversluis’ description of Indigenous peoples,[7] and Cornell’s flow learning[8] support the items developed for listening to nature (see items 8 through 11 in Appendix B). An awareness of the supernatural or supraempirical I call listening to the Divine (“G” for Goddess-God in the SONG). Sources consulted for the development of items for listening to the Divine are Keating’s diverse and inclusive conceptualization of the Divine,[9] Peterson and Seligman’s humanistic-philosophical values,[10] Lindahl’s sacred art of listening,[11] and Easwaran’s passage meditation[12] (see items 12 through 15 in Appendix B). Next, I discuss how the four listening contexts in the SONG of life are operationalized and empirically tested.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (New York: Hyperion, 1994). ↵
- Anne D. LeClaire, Listening Below the Noise: The Transformative Power of Silence (New York: Harper Perennial, 2009). ↵
- Marshall Rosenberg, "Receiving Empathically," Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (Encinitas: Puddle Dancer Press, 2005). ↵
- Laura A. Janusik, "Listening Pedagogy: Where Do We Go From Here?" in Listening and Human Communication in the 21st Century, ed. Andrew D. Wolvin (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 193-224. ↵
- Loretta L. Pecchioni and Kelby K. Halone, "Relational Listening II: Form and Variation Across Social and Interpersonal Relationships," International Journal of Listening 14, no. 1 (2012): 69-94. ↵
- Michael J. Cohen, Reconnecting with Nature: Finding Wellness through Restoring Your Bond with the Earth (Lakeville: Ecopress, 2007). ↵
- Joel Beversluis, ed. A Sourcebook for the Community of Religions: An Interfaith Guide to Religion and Spirituality (Novato: New World Library, 2000). ↵
- Joseph Cornell, Sharing Nature: Nature Awareness Activities for all Ages (Nevada City: Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2015). ↵
- Thomas Keating, "An Experience of Interreligious Dialogue," in A Sourcebook for the Community of Religions, ed. Joel Beversluis (Novato: New World Library, 1993), 106-108. ↵
- Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). ↵
- Kay Lindahl, The Sacred Art of Listening: Forty Reflections for Cultivating a Spiritual Practice (Woodstock: SkyLight Paths, 2001). ↵
- Eknath Easwaran, Meditation: An Eight-Point Program (Petaluma: Nilgiri Press, 1978). ↵