Being present in a dialogue of communication with other souls is an opportunity to establish relationship, bonding and understanding. This requires an intention to listen with compassion and not prejudge and make up your own story about how you feel about what is being said.
We are looking for understanding of how the person feels and thinks, not what we feel and think. Most people want to be heard, understood and listened to without judgement. Opening that channel of communication says I love you and I am here to listen.
Jesus tells us in Matt. 13:15, “For this people’s heart has become gross and their ears are dull of hearing.” It is an act of compassion to be a listener at a time when someone needs to be listened to. Just quietly listened to and appreciated for who they are “Without Judgement.”
The world is full of opinions, judgements, rules of conduct, and sometimes hostility because of these standards of how things should be. We have lost the ability to just have a dialogue and share with others safely with open hearts, good will and looking for understanding.
When Jesus tells us that our hearts have become gross, and our hearing has become dull He is telling us that our closed hearts are not hearing the message of love that is being sent to us by the Universe. It takes practice to relearn the art of listening on purpose. Listening with the intention of loving and understanding takes practice. Leaving behind the judgement and fault finding that automatically occurs when we hear things outside of our comfort zone brings the heart connection that says I love you.
This Sunday, we are again celebrating our community with a wonderful brunch catered by Chef Kathleen and our main assignment is to enjoy our meal together and get to know each other as the children of God that we are. The only way to create that relationship is by being in dialogue with each other with open hearts. We do that by asking questions and listening (without judgement) and then maybe ask another question just to make sure we understood the first answer. It’s amazing what we can learn when we listen just to listen. The Universe is always communicating. We are the ones to listen with love and bring it into reality.
This is the practical in “Practical Christianity” in Unity.
I Love you...
Rev. Robert