Hearing
with Heart
“Deep
spirituality also gives us the capacity to listen. The nature of this
deep listening is much more subtle and comprehensible than the
ordinary mode practiced by most people. It is a complete inner
attention, a devout listening with one's whole heart. It does not
matter whether we are listening to the divine, to the natural earth,
to other people, to members of other species, or to ourselves.
Everything is an avenue to the divine. Ultimate reality expresses
itself and speaks through all things in each moment. All we have to
do is listen.”
Wayne
Teasdale (The Mystic Heart)
As
I was pouring my coffee this morning, I thought, 'I have no idea what
to write about today. Maybe it's time to call it quits.' I walked
into my study and looked at my bookshelves without much expectation
or interest. My eyes lit upon The Mystic Heart, by Wayne
Teasdale, a book that was given to me a couple of years ago, put on
the shelf and never read. I picked it up and saw that one page had
been dog-eared. When I opened to that page, the title was, “Fruits
and capacities of the spiritual journey,” followed by a list and
explanation of each. I guess I'm not supposed to give up quite yet.
Now and then I need reminding that it's not about me.
The
truth is, I get up every morning with the intention to blog something
about spirituality, but I never know what it will be until I start
writing. Some days it's easy, some days not so easy. Writing helps me
to focus on the way that spirit moves in my own life and then,
hopefully, to share that with you. It is, in itself, a spiritual
journey.
It
seems to me that most of us who think about spirituality at all,
place it in a category by itself—something that has to do with
church or temple. What I want to convey to myself and to you is that
spirit is communicating all the time, every day, through everything.
It is always knocking, even when we are sleeping. Now and then, if we
tune-in, we will see and hear and feel its guidance.
I
used to tell my students, 'Listen, not with your ears, but with your
heart.' When we listen with our hearts, we get the message behind the
message; we see the story the body language tells, we notice the
facial expression and the voice quality. When we listen with our
hearts, we see that right here in the midst of an ordinary day, maybe
even a difficult day, the birds are singing, leaves are changing
color, and beauty is all around us. Spirit is waiting for us to
notice the refreshment she offers every minute of every day. All we
have to do is listen.
In
the spirit,
Jane
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