Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening.
Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.
It's easy finding reasons why other folks should be patient.
What people should do is explain to their friends, to their neighbors how they feel when they confront the word n - - and why they feel the way they feel.
Folks can look at this issue and read it and it can feel like medicine, it can feel epidemic. We wanted this to hit people in their gut, and the hope is that by doing that, we can get more people to think more deeply about these issues.
The idea of faking empathy to take a step forward to understanding - it's a really powerful idea.
We like epic stories, we like adventure, we like epic fights, so if you can mix a great story that can also really teach someone about a different experience, you have the potential to really help people.
In a film, if you can capture what's going on underneath, you can begin to make a connection between the character and the people watching it.
When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining.
It's also one thing to see a celebrity or some kind of character on a TV show being gay. It's a totally different thing when you know your husband... not your husband, but your brother or your friend or the dude you hung out in high school was gay. I mean, that is what changes people's minds, what changes people's minds.
In the beginning war looks and feels like love. But unlike love it gives nothing in return but an ever-deepening dependence, like all narcotics, on the road to self-destruction. It does not affirm but places upon us greater and greater demands. It destroys the outside world until it is hard to live outside war's grip. It takes a higher and higher dose to achieve any thrill. Finally, one ingests war only to remain numb.
When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child's hands, you are bringing that child news of the infinitely varied nature of life. You are an awakener.
The difficult thing isn't living with other people, it's understanding them.
Listening is a very deep practice. You have to empty yourself. You have to leave space in order to listen especially to people we think are our enemies - the ones we believe are making our situation worse. When you have shown your capacity for listening and understanding, the other person will begin to listen to you, and you have a change to tell him or her of your pain, and it's your turn to be healed. This is the practice of peace.
You don't want to just preach to people; you want to get them emotionally involved, and I think you do that with a wonderful human story about one person's struggle.
I think women should have insight as to how men think. Just like men should have insight into how women think.
Writing fiction is a good way to inhabit other minds, if not other lives.
We need to make the bullies aware of what they're doing, why it's wrong, and the effects it has on the kids who they are doing it to. You can see the light bulbs going off in these kids' heads when I say this. I try to put them in the situation of those being bullied. It just makes them aware.
A skilled listener can help people tap into their own wisdom.
When we engage people across ideological divides, asking questions helps us map the disconnect between our differing points of view.
It's an honest place to be if you don't understand someone else's experience, but there's no way for the other to understand if a conversation or an explanation isn't made.
To listen with empathy is the most important human skill.
Often when someone comes to you and wants to vent, it's so tempting to start giving advice. But if you allow the person just to let the feelings out, and then at another time come back with advice or comments, that person would experience a deeper healing.
Books are personal, passionate. They stir emotions and spark thoughts in a manner all their own, and I'm convinced that the shattered world has less hope for repair if reading becomes an ever smaller part of it.
Aren't you getting tired of people hating one another? What do they think they get out of it?
