  Spiritual
This week: Open Your Ears Edited by: Sophy New Year  
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Hi, I'm Sophy New Year ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. In this issue we'll talk about the importance of listening, and really hearing another person.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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Open Your Ears
God speaks to us every day only we don't know how to listen.
- Mahatma Gandhi
The central mantra of the Jewish people is "Hear, O Israel." Listen.
The command implies that still one can hear, that the revelation is still happening.
- Michael Lerner
In the gospel of Mark there is a brief story about the healing of a deaf man. We are told Jesus put his fingers into his ears, then spat and touched his tongue and said to him, "Be opened." Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke. There is a wonderful sequence of events in this story. First the man's ears were opened, then his tongue released, and finally he spoke. In a metaphorical interpretation of the story, it appears one of the lessons Jesus is suggesting is that we need to listen before we open our mouths to speak.
Jesus often compelled his followers to listen more deeply, and chastised them when they didn't. In fact in the passage just before this one he said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." Meaning listening isn't what defiles us - but what we say certainly can. As those of us in the US endure the rhetoric of another election cycle, can you imagine the relevant and healing dialog that could take place in the public square if we really listened to what people are saying, rather than just contribute to the noise? Maybe by opening our ears and listening before we speak, much like the man whose hearing was restored, we might actually hear what others are saying, as opposed to doing what we usually do - which is, instead of really listening to another person, our mind works to come up with a retort before the other person is even finished speaking.
Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, Bread for the Journey, "To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you."
According to some witnesses of a shooting incident at high school in my town a couple of weeks ago, the young man is quoted to have said something like, "Now it's time for you guys to listen to me." He then allegedly spoke of having many problems, and no one listened to him. I don't know who this boy is, and I obviously don't condone what he did. But like many who turn to violence in such a way as this young man did, it appears he was desperate to be heard, and was willing to risk his life as well as those of his peers, to achieve that need.
I am reminded of these lines from Thich Nhat Hanh's poem, "Call Me by My True Names:"
I need you to listen to me.
No one has listened to me.
No one understands my suffering,
including the ones who say they love me.
The pain inside me
is suffocating me.
It is the TNT
that makes up the bomb.
Certainly listening can also make us better writers. The more we listen, with our ears as well as our hearts and minds, the more we are able to relate to and connect with other parts of creation. In so doing, we are better able to reflect on those experiences - either through poetry, or the POV of a character we may have little in common with who, because we listened, we know as intimately as ourselves.
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Below you'll find some spiritual offerings from other WDC members - some are about listening, some are recent spiritual writings. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review.
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| |  | ~ Faith ~ (E)
When life puts you in a situation where you wonder whether to hold on or to let go...
#1890865 by AyxR  |
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Here are some responses to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (August 22, 2012)" about "Milestones."
From Quick-Quill 
63 years of marriage, to my 40 but still together.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
    
From shoumojit
Hi Sophy
Milestone and their relevance leaves a good taste or bad taste,to our already evolving memory.We can make a milestone of all the events that we have exposure to,and for this we should have a spiritual balance between time and space in our mind.We should update the same so that it remains sharp and agile.Regarding learning from a old experience,its our orientation,mindset and previous propensities that are lurking in our subconscious we can certainly understand our mooring and move ahead in a contended manner..Rajasri
Though provoking response, thank you for sharing.
From Prosperous Snow celebrating 
Here are the "Milestones" in my life.
Prosperous Snow
Thank you! 
From ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy
Thank you for reminding us of important things again. My first teaching job was Creative Writing for eighth graders in 1960. They wrote wonderful material; I still have the best of it. But, I kept putting off my own creative writing, decade after decade. Finally, I started at age 69 and now, I so regret my lack of wisdom of not starting to write at thirty or earlier. I missed a great opportunity. Today, at 74, I encourage all potential writers, "If you think you want to write, start today; don't have regrets someday by putting it off until another year. I have regrets. I hope your readers don't put things off. Like the British slogan during the bombings of World War II: KEEP CALM, CARRY ON.
Today at 74 you can still write and not have any regrets at 80 if you do it now - thank you so much for sharing this great truth!
From Steve adding writing to ntbk.
A Milestone: Married Christmas day 1987, in honor of the Lord providing the means to do so.
Academically: Graduated from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, TX with a Master of Divinity, December 1999, the final graduating class of the 20th century.
Read and reviewed all of your suggested pieces. Let them know they came from here.
May the Lord bless you and keep you in the days ahead.
Copenator out! BA, MDiv
Leader of Copenator's crew and SGDG.
Thanks for sharing your milestones with us - and for the r/r/r's of the highligted pieces, very kind of you.
From scarlett_o_h
Wonderful newsletter and beautifully written. You express the true meaning of spirituality and so many readers will relate. Well done.
Thank you.
From thetrwebster
I enjoyed reading about 'Milestones'- I started thinking and it appears my life has been nothing BUT milestones... Thank you for the brain/soul food.
Perhaps all of life is made up of milestones - stepping stones that help us on our journey?
Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming! Until next time, Sophy New Year |
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Spiritual: September 19, 2012 Issue [#5262]
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