“Leave them, they are blind leaders of the blind!”, “Leaving them, he went out from them”, “do not cast pearls before swine…”; and the Mother of God remains silent: what will she tell Joseph – that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit? He will not grasp and believe, so she gave the situation into God’s will – let the Lord enlighten him!). Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to listen to the interlocutor, to listen carefully to him, to look carefully at him, and only then speak-give him according to his measure to grasp-hear-bear (so that it is for good, for communication in good: so that he can hear-see-accept-bear-carry – both the deed and the thought-idea)!!!
We speak (give) not to say (give), to speak out (we want to be listened to, heard, understood, accepted, pitied, sympathized, helped…). It is good when you understand that you are not heard, not understood (like this teacher who left the classroom of deaf-mute children in anger – he knows that this material they did not grasp, they need to be conveyed it again, it is necessary to think about how to convey it to them in an extremely necessary, fundamental way, without which one cannot move further, so that they understand…). Woe when the one who speaks is convinced that he is heard, understood, heard, and the one who listens, understanding nothing, is also convinced that he understood everything!? This happens in the so-called sermons from the pulpits of “Christians”-priests to “Christians”-parishioners – each hears himself (reads himself!): for the priest, the main thing is to say the sermon, and for the listeners – that the priest does not delay too long… No communication, only solid deception: the priest is pleased with himself – he said (and if he said it coolly – his pride and self-satisfaction have no limits), and the “parishioners”-customers are proud of themselves that they fulfilled their religious duty, were in church, listened to the sermon! “The priest said so beautifully!” About what? “Oh, I don’t know, but it was so beautiful!”? Let’s not deceive ourselves that we teach and learn if we are not obedient to each other and do not care about proper communication conditions, about hearing each other! Be vigilant!
Now everyone constantly listens to something (everyone has headphones in their ears), but no one hears anyone! Everyone has become disobedient, rebellious, extremely selfish – “each for himself”, “save yourself”. That is why heresies multiply – the spirit of the antichrist grows stronger, while people do not become flesh… Everything has become a background for me, for my ego, my self… Be vigilant, how and what you listen to!
I must listen to my neighbor (ask, re-ask him, “extract” from him what he knows, what belongs to him, what is his) to have commonality-communication with him (in Good, or good)! Because if the neighbor understood me, then he has commonality with me, he is not alone, and if I did not hear-see-feel-understand-know him, then I remained alone! God hears-understands-knows us – He has commonality with us in everything, but we do not hear-know Him and, consequently, neither the neighbor (the image of God), so we remain in hell, in selfhood, alone! Therefore, once again we emphasize: the main thing is obedience-listening (with all being – sight-hearing-smell-touch-taste-… with all the forces-energies of being), which we enter into communication-unity with Others! The one who loves – for him everything is common with the beloved (communication in everything): both sweet and bitter, joy and pain-cross. The one who loves is always in communication with everyone. And the one who does not love – has nothing in common with Others – he is in hell (evil always divides, so it is common for those in hell, but this commonality does not lead to communication-perichoresis of hypostases but to extreme alienation in selfhood; Good is that common which leads to unity-perichoresis: “I in You, and You in Me”).
You need to communicate with everyone in their (neighbor’s, interlocutor’s) language, which implies – obedience, listening to the neighbor, first of all knowing-accepting him, knowing everything possible about him, at least what is necessary (in each case this necessary minimum is different), to have at least some communication, to feel each other! I am everything to everyone, to save at least someone: for the Jews I am a Jew, for the pagans – like a pagan (and I behave and communicate in their language-culture of communication!); everyone hears the Gospel in their native language (Ukrainian, Chinese, English… the language of the cultural context in which they are, that is, the language of each specific epoch, culture!). Therefore, it is not the interlocutor who needs to be adjusted to himself (to his language-culture), but himself (in love) to be adjusted to him – to be like him, and in his (Jew, philosopher, atheist…) language to proclaim the great Mystery of godliness – God appeared in the flesh! Again, we see that everything begins with obedience! And most of all, the teacher, preacher must listen – he must interest the listener, hear him, therefore, in the language of the interlocutor, arouse his interest (people must understand the Gospel and want to know the proclaimed – the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit). To help someone – you need to know how he lives, his values (by analogy of which you will proclaim to him the Eternal Values – Joy, Delight…: – You love (= you selfishly-enjoy this)? And this (Gospel) is incomparably better!.. and so on), fears, anxieties, likes, ability to hear and act, etc.