THE WORKSHOP ON “LISTENING WITHOUT INTERPRETING”

Event Title:

“Holding Space for Sound Without Meaning”

Location:

Seminar Room B (renamed The Resonance Chamber)

Facilitator:

Affect Liaison Dr Rowan Softfield (they/them)

Attendance:

Mandatory for all postgraduate students, optional but socially compulsory for staff.

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OPENING STATEMENT

Dr Softfield smiles gently and says:

“Today is not about understanding.

Understanding is a colonial impulse.

Today is about listening—without translating sound into meaning, intention, or critique.”

A slide appears reading:

INTERPRETATION IS A FORM OF CONTROL

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GROUND RULES

• No paraphrasing

• No clarification questions

• No nodding (agreement implies interpretation)

• No silence longer than 4 seconds (absence can be exclusionary)

Violations will be addressed through Reflective Stillness Breaks.

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ACTIVITY 1: UNINTERPRETED SHARING

A PhD student speaks:

“I feel anxious about my thesis timeline.”

The room sits in absolute tension.

Another student raises their hand and says:

“I want to affirm the sounds you made, without attaching them to anxiety, time, or selfhood.”

Applause. Someone wipes away a tear.

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ACTIVITY 2: LISTENING CIRCLES

Participants sit in a circle.

One speaks in complete sentences.

Another responds only with ambient vocalisations (“mmm”, “ahhh”, “ooo”).

Dr Softfield intervenes:

“Careful. That ‘mmm’ carried validation. Let’s try again, but flatter.”

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MOMENT OF CRISIS

A junior lecturer accidentally says:

“I hear what you’re saying.”

The room freezes.

Dr Softfield whispers:

“Hear implies content.”

The lecturer is gently escorted out for Re-Attunement Training.

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FINAL REFLECTION

Participants are asked to journal:

“What did you hear, without knowing?”

Many report feeling liberated.

Others report dizziness, hunger, and a loss of basic conversational capacity.

The workshop evaluation form asks only one question:

“Did this feel important?”

(There is no option for “no”.)

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OFFICIAL OUTCOME

The workshop is declared a success.

The university announces a follow-up series:

• Speaking Without Intending

• Reading Without Comprehending

• Publishing Without Claiming Anything