Main news for 15 December 2024

In the New Testament books a situation is often mentioned when those to whom the speaker is addressing himself prove unable to hear him. Quite often the issue is Jesus, but sometimes other preachers too, as in the case of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. This author tells his listeners and readers that they have become "sluggish in hearing," which is exactly how the Greek text sounds literally. What is this: unwillingness to listen? Hardly.

Unwillingness presupposes that the listener has already managed to hear and understand something of what was said. And, having evaluated what was heard, decided that he does not want to hear it. Here both evaluation and attitude are present. The author of the letter, however, speaks of sluggishness. Of unwillingness not simply to hear, but to listen at all. Of slackness that excludes both evaluation and any definite attitude. Most often this happens when the listener or reader simply is not interested in what is before his ears or eyes. But in this case the issue is clearly not that. Evidently the addressees of the letter already know its author, and earlier they were interested in what he wanted to say to them.

The issue here is something else. It may, of course, be an ordinary reaction of rejection. This happens when what is said is categorically unacceptable to the listener. Then the listener may simply stop perceiving what he does not want to hear: a kind of internal psychic filter turns on, preventing him from hearing what he does not want to hear. But for such a filter to work, a certain inner activity is still needed, and rather high activity.

Rejection too can be active or passive. And since the author of the letter speaks of sluggishness, the passive variant is more fitting than the active one. This too happens. Especially in cases where a person values his emotional, for example religious, comfort too highly. In such a case the defensive mechanism may work somewhat differently: instead of an active psychic filter, a passive one is set up.

Perception is not blocked, but its threshold is lowered so much that, simply speaking, it is impossible to make oneself heard. Physically he hears the one addressing him, but psychologically he does not. He remains inside his matrix, into which nothing from outside penetrates. Of course, the person himself often does not realize what is happening. But this is not necessary: a certain spiritual state, a certain intention, is enough. For example, an intention directed toward preserving inner, spiritual, and psychological comfort at any cost. The psyche will do the rest by itself. For it obeys our will, and its functioning is determined by our choice.