Friday, February 8, 2013
NOISE
WHAT has happened to us, the human race???… It didn’t come suddenly, but with stealth, the arrival of NOISE. "Turn off the TV, will you please, Dear, those commercials are so loud I can’t think." Oh, it wasn’t the commercials? It was several political analysts arguing over some obscure meaningless point, almost shouting, talking over each other and getting louder and louder
That’s better, no wait, what’s that noise? Oh, it’s the ear shattering blast of a huge truck gearing down on the hill across the river, or is it a group of motorcyclists? Somebody’s really proud of those loud exhaust pipes, I know. Then there are the cars passing by with the stereo blasting, factories clanging, train engines passing nearby with their horns shrieking, iPod, CD players, cell phones, ring tones…STOP!!!!
Where has all the silence gone?
Here’s a test. Have you ever been deep in the woods, or the middle of a lake, or in a desert place, or some other REALLY quiet spot where there were no sounds, except maybe the whisper of the wind, or the song of a bird, or the ripple of water over the rocks in a stream? Or even as I have, in the middle of my corn patch with the bees buzzing loudly around the corn, doing their work? A place where there were no other sounds to distract, where no voices rang out with human opinions, where it was possible, and oh so very enjoyable, to shut down the physical senses and just… yes… listen. Jesus called it “entering into a closet”, a quiet place where you are alone with your thoughts from God.
Is there a conspiracy to keep us from listening to the quiet things? Has loud noise stolen our ability to Listen to the sweet, soft sounds? Is noise an escape, a diversion so that we don’t have to think, or listen to the sounds of our mental voice whispering? Or to avoid what I call the built-in GPS, the God Positioning System.
You can hear silence, you know. And in that silence, there are Angels.
Now Angels, to me, are not winged creatures that fly down from heaven. My concept of angels is captured perfectly in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. She describes ANGELS as “God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality."
Angel thoughts are those pure, loving, inspiring thoughts that pop up spontaneously and we wonder where in the world they came from. Now God’s “angel thoughts” don’t REQUIRE silence, I have heard them in the midst of frightening situations , or when the crowd was roaring at a baseball game, or even over the screech of brakes in a tight driving situation. But..Oh.. the beauty of the still small voice that whispers in velvet tones in the stillness of the “closet”, where all extraneous noises are shut out and focus is totally on listening. This is where the uplifting thought, the enlightening ideas, the inspired solution to a problem over which we may have been struggling arrives, the light that shines in thought to dispel the darkness of confusion and uncertainty, to reveal a wonderful opportunity.
A quote from Mary Baker Eddy shares this thought:
Father, teach me how to still
The clamoring of sense, and fill
My place as listener,
That I may hear Thy voice
and grow To understand Thy Word,
and so Become Thy messenger.
Then teach me how to banish pride
And stubborn will that I may be Thy representative –
With no false sense of human zeal,
That every word may bless and heal,
When I Thy message give.
(Grekel, Doris, The Forever Leader, p.222)
Will you Listen with me? The Divine Mind, God is talking… Shhhh......
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2 comments:
I love it, when I can learn something new every day.
Pat dear, you just shared a poem written by Mary Baker Eddy that I have never seen or read before.
It is quite touching and I love having it to revisit along with your thoughtful message on the value of silence.
Thank you for this lovely posting and especially for this poem, I'm very grateful, thank you. 'L'
Love, love, love this!
Your post reminds me of a favorite verse (CSH 317, Harriet Beecher Stowe)that reminds me what we hear when we find the 'closet' or stillness:
"Still, still with Thee when purple morning breaketh,
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee,
Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight,
Dawns the sweet consciousness,
I am with Thee."
Thanks for this beautiful message. Will be rereading it often!!
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