Silence
We all have two voices that guide us in our daily lives. One is the “voice in our head”, which chatters endlessly relating to the goings-on in our life. Things to do, things we should have done. Regrets. Ambitions. Anxieties. Hates. Loves.
If you ever tried to watch your thoughts, you’d see a steady stream of these notions. They jump from one topic to the next, usually related to various events that have either occurred or might yet occur in our life.
Anyone who has ever tried to practice meditation has seen how challenging it is to quiet this voice. Even when we think we’ve got it settled, it leaps off in another direction.
And this voice, also known as the ego, is the source of all our sense of stress, strife, and sadness.
But we also have another voice – an inner voice – that speaks quietly and gently. This voice reminds us of our true nature as spirit. This voice reminds us that there is no difference between any of us – that we are all one. This voice speaks for love – and nothing else.
When we listen to this voice, we experience nothing but blissful peace, indescribable happiness.
When we don’t hear this voice, it isn’t because it’s not there. It is drowned out by the “ego’s raucous shrieks”. To hear it, we need to choose against the piercing voice of the ego.
In honor of Ursula K. Le Guin’s birthday today – who wrote the book that transformed my life when I was a little kid (my first exposure to literary fiction, it was called The Dispossessed) – a quote from her perfectly sums up the nature of tuning in to our loving inner voice.
“To hear, one must be silent.”
When we listen not to the senseless ravings of the ego, we hear the beautiful melody of love.
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