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what you want to hear.
I have heard that one day Mulla Nasruddin's wife came home in a rage and said to Mulla that beggars are big cheats.
"Why, what happened?" Nasruddin asked.
"Listen, a beggar had a sign hung around his neck which said 'Blind from birth.' I took pity on him and took ten paise from my purse and dropped it in his begging bowl. When he heard he said, 'Oh beautiful woman, may God make you happy.' Now you tell me how could he know that I am beautiful?"
Mulla Nasruddin started to laugh and said, "Then he is really blind and blind since birth." Then Mulla added, "I am not the only one blind, there is one more blind man; otherwise, if he had eyes how could he say that you are beautiful?"
The wife says one thing, Mulla hears something else. Mulla hears what he wants to hear.
Remember, this goes on happening twenty four hours a day. You go on hearing what you want to hear, never thinking whether what you hear is just yours or if it was actually said.
Mulla was working somewhere and the boss told him, "You are not doing good work, Nasruddin. I am forced to hire someone else now."
Nasruddin said, "You certainly should, boss -- there is work here for two men."
The boss is saying, "I am going to sack you and hire another man." Mulla is saying, "There is enough work for two -- you must hire someone."
Step back and think one more time about what you hear: is it what was said? If an individual becomes capable of hearing correctly, he becomes the second type of listener. He rises above the third, the lowest type. The third adds his own interpretations to what he hears. The third type only hears himself, hears his own echoes. His vision is not clear -- he distorts everything.
The second type of listener hears what is being said. The second type of listener will take a little time, because even in hearing what has been said, courage to translate it into action it is still lacking. But if he has heard, courage will come, because it is impossible to remain for long in the false after hearing the truth. Once truth is seen, then no matter how old a habit is, it will have to be dropped.
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