Listening to Sacred Stillness: What Do We Hear When We Listen?

What Do We Hear When We Listen?

There are times when all of us reach the limits of what we can do. We have worked as hard as we can for as long as we can and we simply cannot do anything more.

It may be we just cannot see what someone, or everyone, else sees. There is a vision or a goal out there but we have done all we can to see it. Whatever is out there, no matter how many times we hear it described, is beyond our ability to see it.

Sometimes we just cannot feel what other people feel. Whatever moving experience someone shares, whatever inspiring story they tell, we are not feeling it. Our experience and our emotions are our own. Some sensations other people feel are beyond our ability to feel them.

There are flavors which appear to be beyond the abilities of some people to taste. Some aromas are beyond the abilities of some people to smell.

People often tell me listening to sacred stillness is beyond their ability. They cannot seem to hear sacred stillness, no matter how hard they try to listen.

It is easy for us to assume certain people are, like dogs, born with the ability to hear what the rest of us cannot hear. They might be receiving on a different frequency than we are.

Other people think it is more a matter of paying attention. We are easily distracted and not able to listen to sacred stillness. It is as if sacred stillness requires hearing beyond our ability to listen.

What Do We Hear?

We have many potential obstacles to listening to sacred stillness. It may be we are embarrassed to try something new. Listening could be something we are not sure we can do because we have never really tried.

Some of us are intimidated by the idea of sitting still for very long. We feel we need to be in constant motion, always moving forward. It is as if we were afraid to stop thinking, stop working, stop moving.

There are people who are worried they will not hear anything if they try to listen.

Some people are more concerned with what they might hear if they listen.

What will we hear when we listen to sacred stillness?

It may take time and effort for us to dive deeper through the layers of distractions.

There may be memories or regrets from the past waiting to divert us. We may have dreams or fantasies of the future blocking our path. We may have relationships or fears or concerns about work shouting in our ears. Each of us will have our own personal distractions.

It will take us patience and practice to let go of all the things tugging at our attention. As we learn not to listen to our distractions we begin to hear sacred stillness.

What do we hear? The sound of sacred stillness will be unique to us.

What you hear when you listen to sacred stillness will not be the same things I hear.

We will learn to distinguish between sacred stillness and the many things trying to draw our attention. As we practice not engaging with our distractions we will discern the voice of sacred stillness.

When I listen to sacred stillness I become more aware of my breathing and more open to sacred truths.

What Do We Hear in Sacred Stillness?

In my experience, my breathing helps me become still in the swirling storm of my mind’s concerns.

My mind likes to solve immediate, tangible problems. Listening to sacred stillness helps me get beyond immediate concerns and pay attention to more permanent things.

It is not that I am thinking about more cosmic problems. My mind thrives on analysis and reasoning, solving puzzles and putting pieces together. The part of me drawn to listen to sacred stillness tends to be more reflective, more open.

What I hear when I listen to sacred stillness is rarely in complete sentences. My experience tends to be more a sense of opening up rather than completing an idea.

For me, listening to sacred stillness is more about a sense of community than about specific words. I do not listen to become better informed, but to be more deeply formed by sacred stillness.

What do we hear when we listen to sacred stillness? The answer is as varied and as personal as each of us. There is no one right thing to hear, no one right way to listen.

Each of us is on the path of listening to sacred stillness. We have started on the path and we are still beginners. Each of us is making progress and none of us has arrived yet.

What Do We Hear and What Do We Not Hear?

We are not trying to find answers to questions when we listen to sacred stillness. Our listening goes beyond the solutions to specific problems or situations.

Listening to sacred stillness is how we spend time with deep, sacred, powerful truths. It is easy for us, remarkably, to get caught up in our own fears and difficulties. Listening to sacred stillness reminds us how our lives fit into something larger and more permanent.

It is not that our concerns are not important. When we listen we put our lives into context. The pressures we put on ourselves may still be there, but we can understand them again.

As we practice listening to sacred stillness each day we remind ourselves what is most significant. We are not ignoring our problems but seeing them for what they really are.

We gain perspective and understanding, and see our concerns more realistically. It is often the case we can see solutions by taking a break from trying so hard to look for them.

Each of us hears the voice of the infinite whispering to us in sacred stillness.

What do we hear when we listen to sacred stillness?

When do you take time to hear the deep truths in sacred stillness?

[Image by Newtown grafitti]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and leadership coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and university professor, and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is [email protected].