here is a meditation on listening. wouldn’t the world be great if we all did this
the more I listen, the deeper I love.
listen ox m 240410 tr ed
Can listening heal the world – imagine you’re by the sea – or somewhere you love in nature – and listen – what happens to you when you listen – when you open your mind – when I say listen, I include listening with your eyes – listen with all your senses – your smell – let’s not limited to sounds –
when you listen, what happens – do you open yourself – do you feel nourished – do you feel quiet, peaceful – what happens – gently notice when you listen, how it changes you –
do you feel love for mother nature – does it open you more to her beauty – to the profundity of being – does it help you feel one with nature around you – no separation –
you’re also listening to yourself – how does it affect you to listen to the outside world around you – listen to yourself and how you respond to that –
let’s try it on some other people – take somebody you know – imagine them in front of you – and listen – you don’t necessarily need to imagine what the story is they’re telling – tune into their presence and their being – listen deeply – to their soul I was going to say – to their presence – how they are in the world – tune in to – no need to be specific, their movements, their facial expressions or anything – just their general being a human –
as you listen, do you find the same sort of things happen as when you’re in nature listening – or is it different – listen to yourself – check what happens when you listen to another being like this – another human –
to do this, you have to put aside your own thoughts about it – your own judgments, your own opinions – just tune into what and who they are – then maybe if you know anything about their life, their sufferings, you can listen to those – we all have sufferings –
does it help you see their beauty – does it help you see the magic of being a living being – or what – does it make you wonder what a living being feels – how we experience life – does it open your soul – do you love more –
does it make you notice, there are other beings in this world who have this magic – just like we do – we probably don’t notice our own magic most of the time either – notice your magic – when you look at this magic being, this living being – notice the person who’s listening – you who’s listening – are you also magic – again what’s happening in your depth when you listen like this to another –
this is the way to have a relationship with somebody – or with nature – if we’re full of our own stuff and our own thoughts and what we’re going to say when they stop talking, how do we really meet that person – if we truly want a relationship, any kind of relationship that’s helpful, positive, supportive – this is the key – does it feel like that to you – the key is to listen – it opens the way between you – barriers dissolve –
do you remember a time when someone really listened to you – what effect that had – to actually have someone else be open like this to you and your concerns, your suffering, your issues, whatever you’re telling them about – have you got a memory like that – or can you imagine being listened to by somebody – what is it like to be listened to – not that common to have someone really just open to your presence, your beauty – your magic –
does it help you tune into your own beauty and magic – or what – do you feel more one with that person when they listen to you – just as you might have felt one with the person you listened to – does it break down the barriers between us – or what –
now take someone to listen to that you really don’t want to, and don’t like – such as an oil magnate – not necessarily someone you know personally – one of these world-wrecking magnates – do the same thing – just listen to their soul – their presence – beyond your fury at how they’re destroying the earth – it definitely seems they’re not listening to the world and the effects of their actions –
as you listen to them, get a feeling of what would happen if they did begin to listen – what would change – they’re just human beings after all – patriarchy has messed them up, and told them that greed and hatred are more important than listening to others – trained them that way – listen to the shining being that they are beneath all that –
does this listening have the power to change the world – to heal the world – how would the world be if we all knew how to listen to each other – can you get a feel for that – would we find ourselves in a wonderful supportive community of beings –
now go back to the natural world – this is what the aboriginals do for their spiritual practice – simply listen to the natural world this way – you might go back to the sea or you might listen to animals, fish, birds, trees – listen to all the different living beings we have around us –
how does it feel to open ourselves to all beings – how is your compassion and your love – how is the magic and mystery – we are not alone in the world – we are part of this great vast mystery of life.