A Lesson in Listening
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When in Bahá'í history
Boston (today: Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
Stanwood Cobb took his 75-year-old father to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Boston. His father was sympathetic to Stanwood's attraction to the Bahá’í Faith, but claimed that he himself was too old to change. When his father met the Master, Stanwood was bewildered to see his father dominate the conversation. His father proceeded to ‘enlighten’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá about spiritual themes.
“I sat there quite shocked,” Cobb recalled. “But I didn’t need to be. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá plainly was not shocked at this reversal of the customary role — He now to be the listener and His visitor the discourser. He sat there smiling, saying little, enveloping us with His love. And at the end Father came away feeling that he had had a wonderful interview. What a lesson in humility this was, that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá thus exemplified! There are so many times when we can help others best just by being good listeners.”
Source: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst (George Ronald, 2011), chapter “The City of the Covenant”, p. 137; Stanwood Cobb, Memories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Avalon Press; reprinted from Bahá’í News, July and August 1962), pp. 14–15.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: consultation).
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