The Secret is to Listen.

" I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the
heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence—we need to
listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and
through us that matters". -Mother Teresa -

We live in times of inner anxiety and turmoil. That which has been presented as security proves itself time and time again to be illusion. We work, educate our families, grow older, retire, and garden. In all the process of living out the expectations placed upon us, our hearts silently whisper, "who are you?" , "why are you here?", "what is the way to your inner peace and rest?". "Is there a God?", "how can I experience Him or Her?", "Where is God when I suffer?".

The questions tumble up from our spirit, disturbing the fragile entertainment pleasure we buy at so high a price. What must we do with the questions of our heart?

We must learn to listen. Only the heart that listens can know itself, others, and ultimately know God. To learn to listen I must arrive at the first step into the secret of the spiritual and human life.

I arrive at a place of conscious unknowing. I know that I do not know! As in the parable of the prodigal son I arrive at "the end of myself". In reality it is only the end of the particular illusions I have chosen to lull me into a state of imagined safeness. A sleep of the heart, while my personality and ego pursue the arduous task of existence. We all live our life, our relationships, our faith experiences in an unconscious state. In this state the false self is never questioned, the relationships serve me and my happiness alone, and the Godhead is to my liking! Blase Pascal once wrote, "God made us in His own image and likeness and we have been striving to return the compliment ever since".

One day the Apostles were arguing "Who is the greatest?" . This is a dynamic we see in the home, work, society, and among the great religions & political ideologies of mankind. Jesus brings a child into their midst. He says, "Unless you become as little children, you shall in no way enter the Kingdom of Heaven". Strong words to the foundational leaders of Christianity! Would that the leaders of each faith community hear them today.

Beginners Mind.
The zen master Shunryu Suzuki wrote, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few". Beginner's Mind is the intentional starting place for all listening. It is the original mind or open mind or inquirers mind. It is called Poverty of Spirit in the Christian New Testament. Jesus teaches in the Beatitudes, His core teaching that "Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for their's is the Kingdom of Heaven". The kingdom of Heaven is the reality of God.

It is the adult, who chooses to be the child. We are invited to choose to become the Watcher, the one seated at his feet. The disciple who listens and watches to discover the inner Way of his Master. "I have come to give you life, and life in abundance" the Master tells us. What do we know of life? What do we know of unconditional Divine and human love? What do we know of the secrets of the inner ways of the Christ-life? I listen to hear my heart. I listen to hear His heart beat in mine.

Rejoicing in Poverty.
If we can see that we do not see, then we are indeed wise. We do not boast to God about who we are or what we have done. We feel the mystical urgency of our own impermanence and mortality and rush to the presence which speaks of that which we do not know. We sit, we learn to be still, we wait, we listen. It is enough to be there in the centre of stillness with our minds quietened and our ego self stilled.

BE STILL.....AND KNOW.....THAT I AM.......GOD.

What excitement there is in a child's heart on Christmas morning as he jumps out of bed and runs to the Christmas tree. In that moment he is aware of his perfect poverty and perfect wealth. All that may be his is abandoned with glee to discover all that will be his. This is the excitement of Contemplative Prayer. Because the individual is not in control of the relationship, but rather waits on the pleasure of the Divine to communicate as He wills, then every prayer session is discovery. I will discover the three great foundations of the inner life. But I will also discover He who is my source, and in discovering my source of Being I discover my true self. For only in the stillness of God can I ever hope to discover my true self.

The three foundations of the inner life.
The three foundations are very simple realities. They are Stillness, Silence,and Simplicity. I must quiet my chattering ego if I am to hear my heart. My heart draws strength from the pregnant solitude of silence. Silence is never empty. "His glory fills all the earth", "Where can I go from His presence, if I go to the mountains He is there. If I go into the depths of the pit, He is there also". Such was the experience of David. Such is the universal experience of mankind. As we still our souls to listen, not with our ears, but with our heart, we enter awareness of the Presence, the Anointing, the I am. Silence has been described as the language of God. God communicates heart to heart, spirit to spirit. His/Her, (for male and female are in God's image), deepest communications are intuitive and transrational. Through simplicity of heart and singleness of intent we focus our consciousness and become aware of that which is. When our hearts awaken from the sleep we were in we are enlightened to the realities of God. We see as we are seen. We know as we are known. We cease to create a false life and self and embrace our true and actual self.

To Listen...
To dispose our heart to quieten our mind, to sit in the pregnant void of silence, this is faith. We listen, because we know there is One who speaks. We listen, but discipline the ego/mind because we do not want to impatiently create our own conversations with ourselves, telling ourselves what we would wish to hear. We are still, we are present, we are there in the Presence. Sometimes our senses pick it up and we "feel" the Presence of God. More often we perceive little with our senses, but our hearts, our spirits, feed and become saturated with the Divine. Only later will we notice how inwardly balanced we have become. Only later will the fruit of the presence of the Divine Spirit become evident, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, forbearance etc. To have the same inner character as Jesus we must drink from the same wells. "Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living waters. By this He spoke of the Spirit which had not yet been given".

Prayer is as easy as breathing...
So gradually we discover that Prayer is listening. Prayer is an exchange of Presence. We listen to the language of God which is Silence. We are still. We practice oneness with His Presence breathing Him in, breathing out initially our fears, anxieties, wounds and hurts. We let go with each exhaled breath which carries with it all we are aware of by way of burdens. The NOW MOMENT moves from surrender to infilling and again we intentionally breath in the Breath of Life, the Ruach or breath / Spirit of God.

So our prayer is lived only in the NOW MOMENT. The past is like water under a bridge, it will never be ours again. The future is His and will be given only moment by moment, but it is not yet here. All I really have, the only reality, the only important thing, is this NOW MOMENT. I will never have another like it. He is present in it. I listen. I encounter. I am filled. My NOW is one with HIS NOW MOMENT. It is a sacrament, the Khiros moment, in with God communicates his inward self to all.

"Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life."
-Tich Nach Hahn -

So we begun to speak of "Listening". There is no place where God is not communicating his Self to all. He indwells all, communicates through all, transcends all. in Him we live, we move, we have our being. Hearing is a reality of the heart not of the mind and certainly very rarely of the senses. Deep calls to deep, His Heart to Yours.

Be Still

And

Know

I AM

God.