Listening & pain
Listening as a political dimension, and the expression of pain as a counter-model to positivity and pressure to perform.
“Listening has a political dimension. It is an action, an active participation in the existence of others and also in their suffering. It connects; it is what first brings people together into a community.”
– Byung-Chul Han (our translation)
Thematically, this workshop is about experiencing the power of listening and of being heard, and where appropriate carrying it over into social life and one's own political practice. Quality also arises from speaking somewhat more intensively and thinking in more dimensions than in small talk, so as not to succumb to the compulsion of “positivity”, as Han puts it.
“Today everyone is somehow alone with themselves, alone with their fears. In this way it becomes an object of therapy, which tinkers with the I, with its psyche. Everyone is ashamed, blames only themselves for their weaknesses and inadequacies. No connection is made between my suffering and your suffering. What this overlooks is the social character of suffering.” (Han, 2016, pp. 98 f., our translation)
The concrete design is adapted to the topic, the group and the occasion.
References
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