Sentinel Watch April 16, 2012 Issue

Spiritual listening amid the political fray

Laura Clayton

Adapted from an article that originally appeared in The Christian Science Monitor.

Laura Clayton

Navigating the media landscape in order to be a well-informed citizen and voter sometimes feels like going to a rock concert—the decibels keep rising. From tweets to talk shows, blogs to sound bites, everyone wants to be heard. It’s enough to make one long for the biblical vision of Revelation when “there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” (8:1).

How do we stay involved, but not overwhelmed? Informed, but not inflamed?

I take a cue from something Christ Jesus said to the crowds that followed him: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:35). To me, that speaks to the need to develop spiritual listening skills that take in divine thoughts, ideas, and inspiration. In Christian Science, the term spiritual sense conveys this deep listening. More than a passive process, it involves a relinquishing of human opinion and the adoption of a heart and mind receptive to truth, love, and divine wisdom—spiritual qualities derived from God, the one infinite Spirit.

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