Awakening to Wholeness is a series of prompts, reflections, and teachings about how holding the tension of opposites can help us to heal division and experience wholeness. If you feel moved to share your own reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
I recall feeling genuine shock when, as a young adult, I realized that there are people in the world who do not recognize the sound of their inner voice. For me, the many hours spent daily meditating on the mysteries of the rosaries, as well as the solitary hours I spent running outside, allowed me to live within a sacred container that was quiet and open enough for me to hear the small, inner voice. I was dumbfounded that others did not perceive the entirety of the outer world through the sound of the inner voice and the sight of the inner eye.
To be fair, I later recognized that I had also been at a disadvantage for not being able to perceive myself and the world from the perspective of out-looking-in. While that inner voice may have helped me sail through adolescence relativity unscathed by the piercing eyes of critics and bullies, it also made it difficult for me to recognize others’ hidden agendas and ulterior motives in their dealings with me and the world.
If the inner voice is singular and shy, the outer voices are many and clamorous. The many voices of the outer world vie for our attention and can soak up our fleeting energies. Most of our mobile, public life is marked by this cacophony of sound and competition for our attention. It can get exhausting to listen through the many outer voices, and it can be hard to find the quiet, still inner voice.
Yet both the container of the inner voice and the cacophony of the many voices are sacred. Learning the art of holding them in tension with one another is hard work. Wonderfully, a third voice supports and encourages us in this work: the voice and sound of the Holy One.
I find Howard Thurman’s teaching on the “sound of the genuine” to be a helpful reminder of the Presence of the Holy One. When the sound of the genuine within me resonates with the sounds of the genuine in the voices of the many others, the hard work of holiness lightens, through the resounding sound of the laughter of the Holy One who takes great joy and delight in these sounds of creation!
Contemplative Questions
We offer the following questions as prompts to help you reflect on the presence of opposites in your spiritual practice and your life.
- Think of your own inner voice. How have you learned, over time, to listen to it? When do you hear it most clearly?
- Think of the outer voices that clamor for your attention. When have they made it difficult to hear the inner voice? When have they had important things to teach you?
- Have you experienced moments when the Presence of the Holy One supported you in holding inner and outer voices in tension? How did you recognize the voice of the Holy One? How did you recognize the sound of the genuine?
Join the conversation! If you feel moved to share your reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
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