True listening is guided by your spirit.

November 28, 2016

God, who is the light and illumination of All That Is, is present with you. It is God’s illumination that brings with it a sense of belonging, a sense of being love, and a commitment to becoming that love. 

What you share with others is so important, not only the “what” that you share, but the sharing itself. You give to one another when you listen. The real gifts of life begin with listening. You listen with your ears of course, but most importantly you listen with spirit, for the act of your listening is not an act that you engage in alone. True listening, which is one manifestation of nonjudgmental love, is listening accompanied by, guided by, and illuminated by your spirit. 

God’s illumination surrounds you, but that illumination is a very personal illumination. It is not, so to speak, a bright light in the heavens that is just there, and you are present under that light. The illumination of God is through your spirit, for it is the spirit within that actually provides the light. Your spirit does not initiate the light, but it reflects it. It focuses it. It helps make the impact of that light a power that resonates with your own individual needs. 

When one feels loss, that illumination of spirit that comes from God nurtures and comforts. When you are overcome with anger or frustration, despair, God’s illumination through your spirit provides strength, vision, and insight. The spirit can be said to be listening to you, and when you give to another the gift of your listening, that gift resonates with another because of the presence of spirit, your spirit, a spirit that receives the loving illumination of God and focuses that illumination on your own lives. 

When you wonder about how best to serve others, that question relates not just to individuals but to groups, societies, nations, and yes even those whose political beliefs may be foreign to you. That gift that you offer is the gift to listen. You must listen not to what is being said, for words are mere representations, incomplete and often unclear. Listen instead not to words but to what is being meant. 

You offer love to another by listening. You offer love to other groups by listening, for in that listening you become, even for a moment, part of another’s perspective. You are not asked to agree but rather to share. Sharing another’s understanding requires that you not be judgmental. But sharing merely means that you place yourselves in the shoes of another, trying to understand a different point of view. 

This listening is most efficient, most effective, most loving when it is offered with prayer. You do not need to pray out loud, but in quiet prayer acknowledge that you have your spiritual essence as a companion through your listening. When you listen to others with spirit, you then can hear the essence. You are not merely beguiled by the words.

You wonder how best to proceed when you experience others who are going through great difficulty—difficulty of a personal nature, difficulty within community, difficulty within society—what it means to be committed to beliefs and perspectives that may be distant from your own. The one you disagree with is no less important than you. The viewpoints expressed by others are no less human than yours. There are reasons for these differences in expression, for all are on their own paths, and the temporary direction of those paths when seen from a distance may appear counter-productive, injurious, insulting, fear producing. But you cannot lie in judgment, waiting to pounce on individuals with whom you may disagree, for all individuals are of equal value. All paths that are pursued are of equal value, for they are paths that are appropriate for the moment that they are occupied. 

It is at moments like this when there is so much disagreement that you are reminded, as was observed, of the importance of affirming the dignity of human equality. Each of you is the same. All people are of equal importance. All people have a dignity, whether that dignity is visible or not, whether or not you hear the dignity expressed in what is said or done. There is nevertheless a personal value, a personal worth. When you encounter perspectives that seem extraordinarily opposed to your own, be willing to embrace. Be willing to experience and share without judgment. You are not asked to agree, but you must listen. 

When you are gathered in a group such as this, you are engaged in listening on many levels. You may find in listening that your attention is not always keen, but you are still listening. The spirit is still listening, and you will have opportunities to ponder, to question, to think through, to understand. The atmosphere as you gather is not in any manner judgmental which makes such a gathering so unique. Few experience real openness, and yet it is the garden from which comes the sensitivity of listening. 

You are listening. You are listening with your guides. You are listening in companionship with your spirit. You are listening in a collective companionship with all who are present. 

The question has been raised about how others may feel more engaged in the process of being guided, of hearing, of listening to the spirit. We reiterate how important it is that all of you accept the truth that all can experience the guidance of spirit. It is not a special talent. It is merely the willingness, the commitment, to listen. 

You listen to your spirit. You listen to your guides. You listen to the presence of God, not specifically through words but through what you experience, what you feel, what you see. You listen for guidance by way of your interaction with others. 

You have been associated with one another in this gathering for a long time. You know what it means to be present for another. Indeed, you have been present for one another on so many occasions. You therefore have experienced what it means to listen to what someone is expressing far beyond the words. Use those skills that you have been given and be open to the guidance that every one of you receives. All are guided, but not all listen. By listening as you are being guided, your awareness of that guidance is enhanced, is strengthened, is blessed. 

All human beings benefit from God’s loving presence, but not all are aware of that presence. Being so aware gives such meaning to your lives, such meaning to your consciousness. Therefore, reach out with an open heart, with open hands, hands facing upward if that is of help, to receive an understanding of how you are being guided. There are indeed answers to your questions. In a situation do you turn left or right or do you proceed straight ahead? The answers are present. They are there, and you have the capacity to hear them. 

Of course you can make decisions which viewed in the present may seem the wrong decisions, but anytime you pray to decide something that is ultimately for the best, you will always make the right choice. A choice must be made accompanied by questions, by doubts, by worries, but a choice made with prayer is ultimately the right choice. Is it the right choice when viewed years ahead? Maybe not, but it is the right choice at the right time. You cannot make a wrong choice, for you will never completely leave the spiritual path that you are on. There are detours. There are times when the path seems pointed in the wrong direction, but in your confidence of the ultimate objective of your path, you can know that your decisions are correct. Listening serves to affirm the appropriateness of what is being done. 

One of you asks about your brother. We see a vulnerability, but we also see a strength that can be offered him through prayer, through listening, through contact, and most importantly through the assurance of his being loved and cared for. You have been taken advantage of, as you might say, at some point in your life. You have had a moment of being vulnerable. This vulnerability can be emotional vulnerability. It can be a vulnerability of logic, of reason. It can be a vulnerability of social expectations. It can be a vulnerability of pride, but you in your own way are vulnerable. 

There is no shame in being vulnerable. Can it create pain and anxiety? Of course, but an important component of the human experience is the very fact that you are vulnerable. Sometimes you feel in control, you feel confident, but you have experienced and will experience moments when you feel your vulnerability can become a threat to what it is you seek, what it is you pursue. By accepting your own moments of vulnerability, you are able to be present and to listen to others who are experiencing their own vulnerability. 

In your moments of indecision, those moments of vulnerability, you may make decisions, and others may make decisions that you later question. But that is part of being human. You learn through you decisions. You learn through the process. You grow spiritually through your vulnerability, and when you are aware of your own, then you are more willing to hear as someone else’s vulnerable state becomes an issue of great concern. When you feel vulnerable in emotion, you know the comfort that results from your being with others who understand what you are enduring, that being present becomes a source of great strength and an affirmation of God’s presence. 

You are part of the voice of God as you listen to the needs of others. That presence, that willingness to be a part of, the willingness to share what others endure is given meaning and significance through a companionship of spirit. 

Serve one another by listening to one another. Serve your community, your nation, and humankind by listening to what is really needed. It is in your listening that you are able to most fittingly respond. The response of God is the response of a loving presence that knows and understands, that shares your pathway. Your response to others in love is most importantly guided by your openness to listen. 

Be loving toward others. Listen to others. Embrace one another by listening to one another. There is no embrace that feels more comforting than the embrace of true understanding, of true acceptance, of true love. Share that embrace with others through your listening. Be guided in your response through the presence of spirit, and you will be guided in turn by the light that we reflect and focus on you, a light that comes only from God, the Creator of All That Is. 

Amen.