Privilege and Listening

Last night I participated in a Buddhist discussion group hosted at a Christian church. The facilitator was an African-American woman. The other participants were a wonderful array of different ages, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, educational backgrounds and economic levels. As a middle-class, educated, white, heterosexual male I know that I have enjoyed privileges throughout my life that have been denied others. So at a gathering like last night I often find that the most important thing I can do is to be quiet and listen; to make space for other voices to be heard, and to genuinely hear what they have to say.

When I choose to practice this discipline of listening and making space for others–which is a form of dying to self–I invariably come away far more enriched, enlightened and edified.