A Lesson on Communication

“How did it happen that the four American therapists have made a radical metamorphosis in just three days of Shen Training®?” 

I was asked this in the days following Wassim's visit. Unfortunately, despite the subsequent explanations written by Christina in her letter, many of my students hadn't grasped the essence of the work accomplished with these therapists. In fact, the merit of the 'Shen Touch' was, in this work of openness to new expressive possibilities, minimal compared to the theoretical message about Shen that accompanied all the meeting-lessons during their three-day training. So I decided to answer their questions, starting with the Chinese character for “communication”:

Ideogram for communication

The Chinese character for communication is complex: it is the result of the ideograms, which complement each other, referring to the following meanings: ear, eyes, full attention, and the heart.

Meanwhile, a clarification: talking very often does not mean communicating. By communication, I intend also sharing the emotional state of how each topic affects me.

The Chinese ideogram character “ears” makes us understand how communication requires careful listening, attentive not only to the subject, to the syntax and semantics of the words, but also to the symbolism that they contain. Listening, therefore, in this view, becomes a real art.

The character “eyes” makes us perfectly understand another of the basic requirements for perfect listening: the congruence between the spoken words and facial expressions, and the unconscious body.

The character “heart” (at the bottom) makes us understand that the ability of empathic listening is necessary to understand the emotions and feelings that it contains.

The character “one” (the horizontal line between eyes and heart) clearly specifies that ears (listening), eyes (sight) and heart (emotions) are the only things that make true communication truly real.

So, when the message that we pass to others also contains our personal experience, this is when the communication becomes a true and real message of Shen.

This is the most difficult thing to learn, to be a good communicators for groups of personal growth, because the discussions that we share must necessarily contain our own personal views, emotional experiences, good or painful as they are, and shared with the vibration of Shen of the heart. In this way for those who listen to us, our communication becomes also a message of a real life, a chance for the listeners to overcome their difficult times, as it was in its time for us.

Therefore communication-transmission has the ability to build a bridge between those who transmit a teaching and those who receive it, overcoming the eternal sense of separation from the daily life experience and from other people.

I read somewhere, about separation, these beautiful words:

"Even when the wave that breaks on the beach seems separated from the sea, it continues to be made of the same water. However, if we look at the waves, they change from moment to moment. If we look at the water, it never changes. Unfortunately, most often, we are not able to see the water, we only see the waves."

In conclusion, I want to add a portion of the tablet 64 of the Tao Te Ching: San Yuan - The three precious things:

“I have three precious things that I keep and cultivate:

The first is the opening of the mind (love, compassion, charity)

The second is the balanced dignity (modesty, temperance, moderation)

The third is the lack of ambition (do not put oneself above the other)

The opening of mind gives me courage,

The balanced dignity makes me generous,

The lack of ambition makes me a leader of men”.

   Happy Easter