On Listening

There is a listening that is far deeper than the kind we typically do, though listening in the common sense can be good practice, a good place to begin to listen. We begin to listen by listening more than speaking when with others; sitting outside, listen to the noises, and grow the capacity to listen to the silent spaces between from which they arise.

This deeper listening is cultivated when our presence, our awareness is brought into it. It is a deeper listening that teaches us about the mystery within. The wisdom revealed serves us as we navigate the course of our lives. It can be a compass that provides a nudge in this direction or that one that makes a yes feel like spacious inspiration that tickles the heart and perhaps even gets the creative juices flowing, or an uncomfortable contraction in the belly or chest when there is a no. The cultivation of this ability lends clarity, peace, and ease to our lives. This intelligence arises from and contains all of our cells, atoms—indeed the stuff of eternity—in which we are swimming whether or not we have yet to experience it. A wise person once said that the lack of a fish’s awareness of water does not in any way alter the relationship of the fish to water.

When we speak less, engage the mind less, and listen more, wisdom that is as ancient and unspoken as the dawn of man—indeed arising from the source that birthed humanity—can serve as a signpost. Confusion, uncertainty, and doubt become clarity, or a restful state of ease with the unknown. 

This is always an option, always a choice. There is none among us who is not capable of this. We have the capacity to delve deeper into the silence between, the silence within, and let it inform us. Despite what is playing out on the stage of humanity, this reality is always present. We can choose to lose contact with it in our lives altogether and rely on the noise at the surface of the water to inform our being, or delve within and make contact with the powerful wisdom from the depth of the source that birthed it all, and let that inform our choices, our actions. Reality—the personal and collective—is not happenstance. Let us take responsibility for what is, not fear what is. Let us delve much deeper. Humanity’s shelf life depends on it.

One must develop ears to hear silent music.