Found an excellent piece by Linda Douty on silencing all the noise in our head that prevents us from hearing the voice of God. She points out that external commotion is only one distraction to spiritual communion with the divine. There are other types as well, including our own talking, orally and internally.
While praying have you ever removed yourself from all external noise but still had a mind full of confusion, argument, dismay and worry? That’s the internal voice of mortal mind still chattering away preventing us from listening to God. We need a total lockdown on mortal thoughts to truly hear God and discern the divine direction.
And there’s the other aspect of being physically quiet and filling thought with praise and gratitude, but perhaps, still not truly listening to God.
“…we can’t hear God if we’re constantly talking; so we commit to spending more time in prayer and solitude. Even then, we are apt to fall into a distorted definition of silent, listening prayer—one in which our mind keeps talking to God, petitioning, thanking, adoring—good things, certainly, but still prayers controlled by us, the product of OUR efforts. We’ve simply decided to close our lips! And the internal chatter continues…”
Who’s doing the talking in your thought today–you or God?
this was neat, thanks for sharing that article.
Laura
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What a wakeup call! I wonder, will I ever have peace from this internal chatter? Do I even listen to God?
I feel I pray a lot during the day, but do I listen except at night?