Terpsichore

Quick crackpot analogy that just hit me this morning. Listening is dancing.

Some people aren't any good at dancing, and they know it. Some think they're wonderful dancers, but it's plain to everyone they know that they're awful. Some refuse to dance as a principled stance. Some seem to take to dancing very naturally, but are a little clumsy and raw. Some work very hard to be precise and accomplished dancers, sometimes building on top of a bed of inborn talent, other times overcoming a lack of talent with determined hard work.

And you can't get better at dancing just by watching other people do it. You have to put yourself at risk, suffer failed early attempts, and pay intense attention to what you're doing wrong and what moves you've got to retrain and purge in order to make progress.