A Christmas Special Do you hear what I hear?

In a study, it was found that 75 percent of human communication happens by way of sound. For most of our waking time, we are engaged in verbal communication, either in talking or in listening. And good communication skills are of premium value in our social interactions.

Good speakers often get the best breaks. They have the choice jobs and the top positions. Conversely, a keen listening ability is a plus factor both at schools and colleges and in the real world, as well. Students need to absorb classroom instruction, as much as practicing business and professional people need to listen well in order to be able to discern the real needs of their clients and customers.

Oftentimes, we'd rather hear than see. That's why radio is still very much around in this glorious age of television. The popularity of mobile phones and portable music is rising. The range of mental pictures that a single sound can bring forth is limitless. When we hear an old Christmas carol, for instance, we can be instantly transported back, in our mind, to the many Christmases in our past. Likewise, music and other sounds are widely used in various therapies, where a patient's healing is directly dependent on how he can listen.

Whether we're aware of it or not, we are hearing the world around us all the time. Even in sleep, the ear continues to pick up the sound of our surroundings. But, on average, we grasp only 50 percent of what we hear and are able to put only a small fraction of it to beneficial use. But when we really listen, we hear fully, and our grasp of what we hear is total.

Listening is a skill that must be developed through systematic training and practice. Yet our educational system has not been quite responsive enough to the need. At school, the training for listening consists mainly in the command heard by students from teachers, from grade school through college: "Listen!" And then students are left totally on their own.

The act of listening is not simply letting sound waves into our ears, just as the act of reading requires more than simply looking at the print. Good listening requires active participation. And that participation begins with earnest intention-to hear beyond what the ear can pick up, to feel the silent music of the cosmos and of our shared humanity.

People who have a highly developed listening skill are able to focus their attention long enough to give a particular sound the chance to present its corresponding value. They wholly commit themselves to that sound - whether a talk, music or any sound - to determine whether to imbibe it or let it pass. They are able to shut off distractions at will-the noise of their surroundings, both sights and other sounds, and mental preoccupations.

When we master the skill of listening we will discover an extra benefit: the fact that we have learned how to heed the world will mean, automatically, that we will have become more developed human beings ourselves. As we get more enriched from listening, we also begin to radiate our refined essence to others. They will get more out of what we have to say and learn a lot by being around us. We become more sensitive, and are better able to hear the counsel of our own inner wisdom.

About five months ago, the big stores played Christmas carols. It was good to hear, but quite difficult to believe. The activity was short-lived, as people didn't go with it. As it turned out, the whole thing was merely a gimmick to perk up sluggish mid-year sales. There's just no such thing as Christmas in June or July. Then again, at the onset of September, radio started playing the merry tunes. It was closer now, but the songs sounded somewhat empty still. A fruit that's forcibly ripened does not taste as sweet. And a Christmas out of its right time is all make-believe.

Some say the difficult times make us so eager to bring the season sooner on. Christmas is a good diversion, an escape from the escalating social desolation. Many people nowadays have too little going on in their lives. And they look forward to Christmastime for some sizzle to divert their bored minds: the festive noise, the twinkling lights, and the songs that bring back memories of better and merrier days. But it doesn't make sense. We won't make our bad situation any better by simply looking the other way.

Trying to overstretch the Christmas season in order to cover up our expanding emotional emptiness does not work. The festive noise will eventually die down, the multicolored lights fade out. The glee is temporary and will soon end. As soon as the last Christmas carol is played, we're back to where we were. These past days, however, the spirit of the season has become hard to ignore. Christmas seems to have finally come, at its own time. The homes are lighting up and carolers are beginning to knock on neighbors' doors. The signs of the merry season are popping up everywhere: the lanterns, the colorful paper decors, the twinkling lights that mimic the stars in the night sky.

Yet, to me, the most unmistakable sign of the season is not something the eye can see. Inside the jeepney I was riding the other day hang a Christmas ball the size of a child's fist. It was a ball of light that turns around with matching Christmas music. It was small, just enough to light up the faces among us passengers. But the simple ornament had much more power than anyone saw.

Long afterwards, the tune of Do You Hear What I Hear? lingered in my ears, exactly as it sounded inside that jeepney. I keep hearing the beautiful instrumental melody on and on, until now, enlivening my feeling, brightening up my view of the world. It's like the music box of my soul that has been turned on. I'm hearing the music of Christmas from deep within, and my dreary life has taken on a lively cadence. And - curiously - even complete strangers now look like family to me. (E-mail: [email protected])