a word on listening: I was casting around for ideas for tonight's post, and nothing quite suited. We seem to be on the hinge of some change in the world these days. No, it's not the apocalypse, but important nonetheless. There's the Connecticut primary in a few days, and the continuing wars in Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority, none of which will bring the end of the world (I hope), but are nervewracking anyway.
As I thought about what to post, a diary by Carnacki - that paragon of blog decency and common sense - came to mind. He asked us to Listen on Friday, and I second the motion.
As Quakers know, listening is neither passive nor easy. It takes work. But it is a tool of immense power for those who know how to use it, especially in such conflictual times as we have. For listening is not so much about hearing as it about opening one's heart. We all "hear" a lot through the day: verbally, through the media, even in our reading. But it's less often that we allow ourselves to become vulnerable to what we hear, which is to say, to allow it to penetrate us. Or even worse, to allow it to motivate us in new, unexpected, and often uncomfortable ways.
It takes practice to listen. Not just to listen "behind" what is said for a deeper truth, or for a still, small voice drowned out in the white noise of a wired planet. To really listen requires us to unwrite many of the hidden rules by which we live: that we hear to confirm what we already know, that we hear while thinking of the next appointment, the next post, the next on whatever long chain of "to-dos" we have built up on our list, that what we hear will never come so close as to sear our hearts. Listening changes us, which makes it countercultural these days.
And which, of course, is exactly why we should be interested in it. I don't know you about you, but I believe that our culture could use more people who listen, and a lot fewer who do nothing but talk, talk, talk, from the same pre-determined points we've all heard before.
So monkeywrench time: I invite you into a time of listening. Do it as you need to: turn off the radio or the television, pick up a book of poetry or a child. Or do as the Quakers themselves do: fold your hands and wait.
For our purposes, leave a comment with an ellipses to denote listening: ...
Or go here and steal one of simplexity's "silence" .gifs. Then scroll down through the page to join others in listening. When you're ready, leave a comment with your prayer intentions. And, if you're one of those folks who post first and read second, don't sweat it. There's always more time to listen.