Listen and hear -- sometimes just the voice of silence.

There comes a time when the only appropriate thing for a person to do is to listen. The question arises: When is it the right time to listen? It takes time to listen. A person may very well become too busy to listen or he may feel that he has too much to say to listen to what others have to say.
While nothing is wrong with engaging in conversation or talking most people would be much more effective if they listened more, not just because thay have two ears and one mouth, with apparently each of these faculties, deserving equal time, but rather because one's soul is jeapordized by too much talk that much too often amounts to what Shakespeare adjudged to be "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" or just "much ado about nothing."
A person may hear noises and tunes without listening to them, i.e., without focusing on the sounds that he hears. He may be unable to recall what he heard only minutes earlier. Listening is more than "to give ear to," and very often hearing results from the things that go "in one ear and out the other." Yet, hearing tied to external sounds is a factor in listening. There is also listening that originates within, having no external basis. Sometimes it is referred to as "listening to ones soul or inner voice."
Webster's Dictionary" states that "listening is to hear with thoughtful attention."Attention involves "a selective narrowing or focusing of consciousness and receptivity." Listening and thinking are inextricably linked.
Silence is another component of listening. Silence is great wisdom when a person has nothing to say and sometimes when he thinks he has something to say. Attempting to be silent can be a challenge. For we have not yet learned how to be silent. Our constant bombardment with radio, television, telephone, including the cellular phone, and internet messages, in addition to the face-to-face talks and chatter we do and hear have addicted many people to noise. A man living near a major airport said to me, "I hardly ever notice the airplanes that take-off and land every few minutes," and added, "I have not tuned them out they have tuned me in." Then there is the imagining and fantasizing that takes us away from the here and now. We fear silence perhaps because we are afraid that our silence will reveal the truth about ourselves. We may talk to keep others from knowing who we are. For a moment think about what it would be like for you to be "all ears" for a day or a week? Would that drive you crazy or cause you to self-destruct in some other way? Take time to listen and you will make yourself and others you encounter happier. Listen...
...when you are with people who are hurting, bereaved, terminal, deeply troubled or devastated;
...when you know that you are ego-tripping at the expense of another person as you attempt to usurp him telling his story, jockey to gain one-uppermanship on him or flaunt yourself with an air of self-importance;
... when the message delivered to you requires only your acceptance, nothing more, not even a word, unless that word is "Thank you;"
... when you do not have a word that is appropriate for the occasion or have shown up at a party to which you had not been invited, especially if you decide to remain at the party;
... when your soul longs for contemplation, solitude or communion.
Sometimes listening is enough. And, wise is the person who knows when enough is enough. Remember to listen, not just with your two ears, but with your third ear to the inner voice within. Sometimes it can be more important for you to do that than it is for you to hear with your two ears.
Listen now! The music is resounding, the wind is buzzing, and the river is flowing with the sound of a gentle fountain. In the quietude of the moment a still small voice is whispering, "Be still and know that I am God."

Copyright 2007 by Uriah J. Fields