Listening & Heeding Amidst the "Chat-er"

       

Does not wisdom call
    and understanding raise her voice?
2 On the heights, beside the way,
    at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3 beside the gates in front of the town,
    at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
4 “To you, O people, I call,
    and my cry is to all who live.
5 O simple ones, learn prudence;
    acquire intelligence, you who lack it.
6 Hear, for I will speak noble things,
    and from my lips will come what is right,

Proverbs 8 :1-6a NRSVue

Yesterday we joined an online event featuring the celebrated British nature writer, Robert MacFarlane. His latest book Is a River Alive? recounts his visits to rivers around the world that have recognition as persons under the law, including one in Quebec as well as his broader reflection on how cultures, past and present have considered rivers as living and sacred.

With MacFarlane as a sort of panel in a book store in Vancouver were several local persons who have worked tirelessy on behalf of rivers and other bodies of water. An exceptional young woman whose background is Haida spoke of her involvement in protecting a British Columbia watershed, taking part online. 

All of these participants deserved our full attention yet the scroll of the onmipresent "chat" was endless. There were more than 1200 participants online and it seemed that all of them were attempting to over some earnest comment as the event proceeded and some were in conversation with one another as the speakers shared their thoughts. Why did they need to do this? MacFarlane is one of the most respected writers in his field in the world. All the other speakers were excellent. In some presentations the chat can be silenced but in this case I held up a hand to block out the blah, blah, blah.

Should the earnest chat even be part of these events? During the pandemic I joined a presentation featuring David Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken which is about attending to the sounds of our planet and sensory extinction.  It is literally about listening yet people chattered away throughout his brilliant reflections. I thanked the organizers for the event later and mentioned the irony of folk not giving their full attention to what Haskell had to say. The response? Crickets. 

Am I just a grumpy old guy? Of course! I also think we need to consider this insidious form of noise pollution in order to hear ourselves and God. 

This past Sunday which was Trinity Sunday there was a reading from the book of Proverbs describing Wisdom and the importance of listening. The intimation is that hearing the Creator, hearing others who are wise is essential to our being. In our chattery age in which people are often talking past and over one another, even with the most earnest of intentions, this is surely something we must heed