Article June 9, 2008 Issue

LISTEN UP!

BY WALTER RODGERS

LISTENING is one of the best skills anyone can cultivate. In any endeavor, it's important. The ability to listen to your spouse is a cornerstone of a successful marriage. Good managers hear their employees, alert for fresh perspectives. Successful politicians listen if they want to stay in office. And while listening is clearly an invaluable job skill, it's also a vital rung on the ladder of spiritual growth.

A friend recently asked me, "How do I become a better listener?" After a moment of reflection, I said: "Open your Bible and Science and Health, and listen. That's how you best hear God revealing Himself to you." I explained that this requires self-surrender, letting go of human will. These books—the words in them—are powerful expressions of even more powerful ideas. And ideas move worlds. When we're truly listening, these divinely inspired ideas silence the material senses and obliterate mental stewing and human turmoil.

A Sunday School teacher taught me the importance of listening spiritually, when I was in my teens, and I've remained grateful. We met in a noisy basement filled with other classes and chattering children, and she would say: "Blank out everything about you. Keep your eyes closed and say to yourselves, 'All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation.' " Most of us knew that those words came from "the scientific statement of being" in Science and Health (see p. 468), and that in that context, Mind was another name for God.