Xingyue Liang

SEENING THE UNSEEN Deep Listening as an Agency

Xingyue Liang s3698567

Seeing the Unseen —— Deep Listening as an Agency

Introduction The inherent thinking affected by our fixed mode habits is the biggest obstacle in learning (Senge et al 2005). Finding out a way which allows deeper observing and thinking is required. This essay illustrates the ability of “seeing the unseen” of deep listening through multiple listening practices.

The importance of setting up a respectful environment that every participator enjoys in, which allows deep listening happen, also be demonstrated in this essay. Considering about the link between deep listening and the discipline of landscape architecture, this essay explores deep listening as an agency of landscape research, helps landscape architects to get better and fully understanding of sites they are looking at and researching on. The potential ability of “seeing the unseen” of deep listening allows landscape architects to notice things they ignore before in normal research ways.

What is deep listening?

I would like to define deep listening as a learning method which allows us noticing things we ignore before and discovering things from multiple perspectives, through listening to both stories be present directly in front of us and be hidden behind.

In order to understand this, we must know what is listening. There is no doubt that different people hold different opinion on that. Senge et al (2005) suggest that listening is to be patient on things happening around, waiting them to show their true faces. Ungunmerr-Bauman (2002) defines listening as ‘listening, still awareness’, which recognizes deep sound inside of us. Brearley (2010) illustrates that listening is to listen respectfully to stories are told and observing the self.

Although they describe listening in different ways, they all emphasize the word ‘observing’ directly through words or in unconsciously.

I believe it is the observing of things do not be spoken about turns a normal listening into a deep listening.

Figure 1: discovery the hidden area

The ability of seeing the unseen Brearley (2010) concludes three core characters of deep listening, critically reflection, be alert to things do not spoken about and build connection within workplaces. Based on my listening practices, I think they are more like ways and requirements to achieve deep listening. The essential character of deep listening, which makes it so different from other ways of learning, for me, is the ability of recognizing things are not be noticed. I call that ability as ‘seeing the unseen’.

The ability of ‘seeing the unseen’ has two different dimensions. One is recognizing and noticing things hidden. One example is that, deep listening helps to find another performance of the environment we live in. Sounds of nature are hardly to be heard and noticed by living in the center of a metropolis. Sounds likely to be heard there are chaos. Listening, suggested by Senge et al (2005), ask a slowing down and waiting for things to find us. A series of drawings in Figure 2 records such listening practice. As time passing by in the practice process, chaos of crowds and vehicles disappear, sounds of nature start to present themselves in front of me. And the quality of them become better and better from my first practice to the last. Slowing down be required in this practice brings me a chance to experience the nature which I tended to ignore in a fast life pace. This is an experience how listening helps me to notice things that I missed in my busy daily life.

Figure 2: sound map of a park from 18:00 to 18:05 Explainationg：When chaos disappear, sounds of nature start to show their face. Listening to the environment, the nature is a rare experience for me, who live in a motropolis. Slowing down and focusing on sounds provide such a chance to notice things we ignore in our busy daily lives.

Date: 29th July 2020

Date: 30th July 2020

Sounds material: rains &

Sounds material: stone enters

winds

river & people passing by

Date: 1st August 2020

Date: 2nd August 2020

Sounds material: river &

Sounds material: river & winds

people passing by

& leaves

Another example of this is deep listening helps feel things we can not see directly through eyes.

The metabolism of cells in our body makes us totally another person every seven-year. This process is constantly happening in silence. It is hard to be seen and noticed by us normally. ‘Dadirri’, the deep listening practice way mentioned by Ungunmerr-Bauman (2002) emphasizes the experience, the feeling of the inside world of us. It is absolutely that I am not able to see the blood flow or cell division inside of my body, but deep listening practice which follows Ungunmerr-Bauman’s suggestion gives me a chance to feel and experience them. The process and feeling of that practice be drawn in Figure 3. Feel and experience of things provides another way of seeing, it allows us to notice things that could not be seen.

Figure 3: the listeing practice of exploring the inside world of myself

Stage 1: hearing massive sounds

Stage 3: feeling changes happening inside of my body

Stage 2: hearing sounds from inside of me

The second dimension of the ‘seeing the unseen’ ability is seeing a thing from different perspectives. It allows us to dig a thing deeply and fully. Senge et al (2005) say that everyone has their own fixed mode of thinking, as a result of that, we only see parts of a thing. Basing on my practices, I believe that deep listening is a way to overcome that shortage. Scharmer (2009, cited by Brearley 2010) concludes four types of listening, for me, they are more like four steps of deep listening. The thing we looking at is like a puzzle, and everyone’s opinion on that is a piece of that puzzle. Downloading what we hear is to confirm pieces those are same as our own’s, and put them away. Next step is to pay attention on those are different and pit them out. Then, empathic listening asks us to think about those different pieces. Through the process of exploring reasons and ideas behind those pieces, we turn them into ourselves. Then we can use all our pieces to finish our puzzle, this is the process how we improving our understanding on a thing (Figure 4).

Figure 4: looking the world through others’ eyes

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Step 1: Objective or attentive listening - pick out things differ from mine

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Step 3: Empathic listening - improving my understanding through seeing

Result: better and fully understanding on things

through others’ eyes

Things that different listening practices explores are different. While all of them show a same potential ability of deep listening, which is, allowing people to recognize and notice things they do not see before.

The way of deep listening From my understanding, the way of deep listening is critically reflection on our practices. That is the way to notice and explore things behind stories are told. Issues and things we are dealing with and looking at are very complex (Brearley 2010). It is impossible to get a fully understanding on them at very beginning. It is impossible for us to take suitable action before we actually know them well. Critically reflection is the key way helps on that. One’s understanding on things does not always maintain the same. Our ideas change and improve through the process of reflection.

Critically reflection requires reflecting from different perspectives. This has two conditions. One happens in reflections based on changes of one‘s own uderstanding. The whole process of that is, practice, understand, reflect, get new understandings then use the new understandings to reflect.

Every time we using our new understandings to reflect, we are reflecting from a different perspective with our previous one. Another happens in process of dialogue. Sharing idea which happens in dialogue gives us a chance to learn from others’ ideas. In a dialogue, we using others’ ideas to reflect on our own’s. That is another kind of critically reflection from different perspectives I mentioned. A collective of different ideas from different perspectives allow us to improve our ideas into a more complete one. Based on that understanding, I suggest critically reflection on our practices is an essential way to achieve a successful deep listening.

Figure 5: cratically reflection on our practice Critically reflection reflection and question from different perspectives

reflect based on changes of one’s own understanding

pactice

understanding

reflect

reflect oneself using others’ ideas

others’ ideas

new understanding/ new prespective

question

improved idea

‘seeing the unseen’ discovery things that missed before closer to the true face of the thing (a more complete idea)

one’s original idea

The respectful environment for deep listening to happen Master the way how to do deep listening does not mean the deep listening can be achieved successfully every time. Setting up an environment that every participator enjoy is a necessary condition for deep listening to happen. Brearley (2010) claims that respect is the central to that.

The concept of respect I would like to define is respect to stories are told and respect people who are telling these stories. The core requirement of achieving that is an environment that everyone willing to talk. There are three characters of such environment. Firstly, in that environment, nobody aiming to win (Bohm 1980). The main purpose of that practice is to exchange ideas, everyone gains something at the end. Secondly, there is no agenda in that environment (Bohm 1980).

People who participate in are opening to question. They don’t hold a clear correct idea, they don’t judge others’ ideas, and they don’t fight back to defend their own ideas. Last but not the least, there is no leader while a facilitator (Bohm 1980). A leader tends to dominate the conversation, there might be no chance for others to share. And some of the rest are likely to hide behind and refuse to talk (Bohm 1980). This does not help to propose a deep listening practice which aims at exploring things from different perspectives. Because there is no source of other perspectives.

Deep listening in landscape research Gulpa Nagawal written by Brearley in 2010 shows the possibility of using deep listening as a research method. In terms of what deep listening can do for landscape research, the help of better and fully understanding of sites must be mentioned.

Marot (cited by Corner et al 1999) promotes that landscape design become more focusing on the unique specificity of sites. Understand the unique attributes of a site is important. The ability of ‘seeing the unseen’ of deep listening helps on that.

The understanding of site contains two parts. One is the clear known of the physical character of the site. It can be achieved well through data analysis, a common way of landscape research. As living in this information age, almost every data which record the physical performance of site can be found online. Another part of that is the notice of the site’s cultural habits and conventions (Corner 1999). I think it talks about the understanding of how those people who use that place understand and treat the site. To understand that, we need to explore reasons behind people’s behavior. People’s action is like a story teller, then reasons why they act like that is the unseen part. According to the ‘seeing the unseen’ ability of deep listening I explain in previous paragraph, the idea of exploring things behind stories helps to discover reasons behind people’s action. Only understanding that, can landscape architects understand why the site be performed like that. Then they are able to provide suitable design which fit the site best.

Talking about the fully understanding of site, I also mean understanding sites from different perspectives. The reason why different design be provided by different designer is that they hold different understanding on site. It is hardly to say who is wrong or correct, because in most situations, they only see parts of the true face of site. Like I said before, one’s view is limited, the fully understanding of site needs a combination of multiple views from different people. That is the reason why landscape architects working in group, they are improving and making their understanding of site more complete through seeing the site from others eyes. My experience of seeing another side of a site, which I explain before in Figure 1, is a good example to illustrate this. My experience of a site changes in different situations through time, that provides me a chance to see another side of the site. In landscape research process, we may not have a very long period of time to spend on experiencing site, especially in China where tend to finish a project in approximate three months. Thus, in order to seeing different perspectives of site, landscape architects need to work in group, where the deep listening can be achieved.

Moreover, critically reflection on our practices also helps. No one can make sure that their initial understanding of site is totally correct. Critically reflection required by deep listening asks us to question our previous practices. Each time you do that, you will find something new. And you will use the new finding to equip and improve your understanding of site. To get a better understanding on site is a process of critically reflect on our previous studies. That process is like what happens during a tutorial which we sharing ideas with tutors and classmates.

Conclusion In conclusion, listening to both sounds can be heard and stories behind gives deep listening the ability of seeing the unseen. This ability helps landscape architects to understand site’s cultural habits and conventions, to look at site from multiple sides and to improve their understandings through critically reflection. The process of that discover more things of site that be hidden in a normal landscape research way. Thus, I hold the believe that deep listening works as an agency of landscape research, helps to understand site better and more complete.

Reference List 1. Bohm, D 1980, On Dialogue, Schouten & Nelissen 2. Brearley, L 2010, Gulpa Nagawal, RMIT University, Melbourne 3. Corner, J & Balfour, A 1999, Recovering landscape essays in contemporary landscape architecture, Sparks, Nv: Princeton Architectural Press 4. Senge, P, Scharmer, O, Jaworski, J , Sue Flowers, B 2005, Presence: Exploring profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society, Nicholas Brealy Publishing: London 5. Ungunmerr-Bauman, Miriam-Rose 2002, Dadirri: inner deep listening and quiet still awareness, Emmaus Productions