FREEDOM FOR
THE SOUL
TONY CAMPOLO
Recently, my co-author, Professor Mary Darling and I published a book entitled, Connecting Like Jesus. While writing this book we reflected on spiritual practices employed by Jesus and how we could imitate them. One of these practices was Jesus' use of silence.
Cultivating silence in our lives, perhaps more than any other spiritual practice, can make us more attuned listeners. Having times in our lives when we intentionally try to block out external and internal noise helps us learn to listen in ways we cannot when our lives are too full of distractions.
Mary experienced her first silent retreat several years ago as a required part of a two-year programme in spiritual direction. She never would have gone on a silent retreat on her own, as she used to be very uncomfortable with any extended period of silence. Although she struggled with the silence in the first retreat, during the second retreat, silence quickly became not only calming but incredibly freeing. Mary found freedom both in not talking and in not feeling that she had to avoid silence. After the retreat, she realised it was easier to listen more attentively to others without her mind wandering off. Mary also discovered that she wanted periods of silence in her daily life when she was alone, whereas before she would always try to fill the silence by playing music or turning on the radio, just to have background noise.
You can intentionally cultivate silence in your own life by scheduling times alone, whether it's ten minutes in a day or an intentional half-day, full-day or several-day silent retreat. You can also practice silence by not turning on your MP3 player, phone, computer, TV or radio during certain times of the day. I think you will find, as Mary did, that these intentional practices help you listen to others in more focused, sacred ways.
Just as power walking is good for our bodies, meditative walking-slow, silent walking while paying attention to our environment-is good for our souls. It helps us learn to listen more attentively to ourselves and others through listening more attentively to our environment, which is an ability many of us have lost. Just before the tsunami of 2004 hit the Sri Lanka and India coastlines, there were eyewitness reports of animals sensing something was about to happen. Elephants headed for higher ground, and flamingos fled their low-lying breeding areas. The theory is that animals have an acute hearing that allows them to sense the earth's vibrations.[1] If humans once had this acute kind of hearing, we have lost it. There are far too many distractions in today's world that block us from hearing what is really important and perhaps even lifesaving. Meditative walking is one way to become more in tune with ourselves and with one another.
Meditative walking may at first be difficult, especially for those of us who walk for exercise, because the walking I am proposing here is intentionally and deliberately slow. While we walk, we are to breathe in a relaxed fashion while paying attention to our surroundings (which means no ear buds). We are to thank God for the sights, sounds and smells we encounter while we practice being fully in the moment.
After engaging in some of these or other communication and spiritual practices for listening, you may be surprised to find you are less tempted to talk while another is talking. You may even feel a sense of freedom (or relief) from self-imposed pressure to say something important. It's not uncommon to experience increased freedom in these areas as you are becoming more attuned to the guidance of the Holy Spirit about when to speak and when to stay silent.
When you focus on listening more intently to the Spirit and to others, you may also find it easier to hold distractions at bay. In addition, you may notice more people coming to you, wanting you to listen to them. Even if this isn't the case, you don't need to worry. If God wants to ‘increase our territory' with regard to others, we can trust God to put it on their hearts to seek us out. We need only continue to be alert and ready to receive opportunities to sacredly listen to others.
Tony Campolo is professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University, a former faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, and the founder and president of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education. He has written more than 35 books, blogs regularly at his website, redletterchristians.org, and can also be found on both Facebook and Twitter. Dr. Campolo and his wife Peggy live near Philadelphia and have two children and four grandchildren. www.tonycampolo.org
[1] Mott, M. ‘Did Animals Sense Tsunami Was Coming?' National Geographic News, Jan. 4, 2005. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0104_050104_tsunami_animals.html. (Accessed Sept. 20, 2009)
Source: Prayer for Today
