listening but not hearing

In N Ireland, for some reason, we have high levels of people living with disabilities, including hearing impairment. Many of these are young people. I don't know what it would be like not to be able to hear. Many of my friends who work in the area of disability support talk about hearing loss as amongst the most feared disabilities. I have no measure of the truth of this opinion, I only state it to reference the fact that hearing loss can be devastating. The church, in todays blip, is Kinghan Mission,which aims to support those who are deaf or hearing impaired. It has been in central Belfast for many decades. It is a harbour for many troubled boats. It offers respite, care and compassion where people are heard and not simply listened to. Hearing someone involves investment, reading between the lines, understanding the silences which can be deafening when words come with difficulty. Allowing space for people to simply "be" and not "do". This is a dying art in today's pressurised society where you are measured in a utilitarian fashion by what you bring to society, rather than what society can learn from you and give to you.  So I share a poem for all you fellow travellers from John O'Donohue. Enjoy in silence.

"Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
 
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
 
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
 
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
 
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
 
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
 
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
 
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you."
 
~ John O'Donohue ~