Listening Session Analysis

For my compassionate listening session analysis, I sat down and listened to my brother’s best friend, Daniel Parris. We sat down in a comfortable environment and simply had a free form conversation as opposed to a rigid interview-like sitting. We enjoyed sharing each others’ personal experiences and getting to know each other on a deeper level. I especially appreciated learning about another religion from an “insider” perspective. Attaining knowledge from a member of a certain religion through conversation instead of simply conducting research or just observing was more meaningful. Sitting down, one-on-one, and having someone share their feelings, experiences, and memories about their religion, from their perspective, served to be extremely …show more content…
For instance, he talked about his family tradition that dates back to when he was a small child. Every Hanukkah he would go to his grandparents’ house in New Jersey and play the dreidel game. He loved seeing his grandparents that live so far away and getting to spend time with them. His extended family would also come together for every major holiday and have sleepovers. They would play games with prizes and come together every Passover with every member of the family being present. These traditions kept him close to his family, gave him a chance to celebrate all the holidays, and strengthened his faith overall. Commemorating our holidays has served as a bonding experience with our families and helped us all to grow together in our faith. Moreover, celebrating the holidays gives us a chance to reflect on our religion, its meaning, what its based on, and what it stands for. Reflecting on what our holidays represent helps us to examine our religion, remind ourselves what it is we value and believe in, and share it with the ones we love and others who might not be as familiar with our faith. It is at holidays that we both got the opportunity to share our faith with others that are of a different religion and exposing our beliefs through this avenue helped them to gain an understanding an an appreciation for our …show more content…
Sitting one-on-one and having someone open up about their religion on a personal level has been the best way to learn about another religion. I really enjoyed and gained so much knowledge from Danny sharing his feelings, experiences, and memories with me. I am glad that I had this opportunity to no only learn about a religion other than my own but to have gotten closer with someone that is important to my brother throughout this process. I would recommend someone who wants to explore other faiths to utilize this avenue in gaining their knowledge for they will find the experience extremely insightful and