Three or four years ago I wrote a letter to a historian whose books had taught me a great deal. This writer has a particular ability to arrive at profound insights into human events and character. And her life is one filled with accomplishment. I asked how these insights had been arrived at, and offered an example from one of the books I had read.
The writer's response was very brief, but in essence it was that the facts were allowed to speak—all the facts that could be obtained—and she listened. While she couldn't thoroughly explain the process, she said it was almost intuitive.
There is something thought-provoking in that kind of listening—being willing to listen for all the facts. It takes courage to listen that way, moral courage that is willing to have cherished opinions and beliefs and practices contradicted if they are not consistent with truth.
