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For me, in Silence, listening is simply listening. Listening is not listening for anyone or anything ~ Presence speaks Itself.
Listening is an invitation, a welcoming, wordless. I may receive a message, I may not. I do not decide this. Such arises spontaneously from the Silence, or not. Listening, or simply-being-present, is not a means to an end, but an end in itself. In this emptiness-fullness I leave feeling replenished by being in the Quiet with others. In this Quiet I can remain receptive, welcoming, as other Friends speak briefly to the communion about what he or she feels led to share for the edification of all present, then sits down. The speaking out is a continuation of the Silence, not an interruption of the Silence. Silence cannot be interrupted, for Presence is always present, silence can.
And, likewise, there is no difference between listening to the Presence and listening to a presence, for each presence manifests the universal Life. I mean, in theistic terms, this: To listen to the other is to listen to God. This is implied in the Christian teaching of the followers of Christ being the Body of Christ, and in the Buddhist teaching that everyone is already Buddha. "Christ" and "Buddha" cannot be divided, partitioned into pieces, these words speak of Wholeness outside time and space, yet within it as each presence.
What happens, then, one could inquire, when one is not speaking from inner guidance, but more what we can call self-speech, or ego-speech, not community-speech? And, yes, this is always going to be possible in any group gathered in Quiet. What to do? Receive it, anyway. We are all fallible beings. I myself have spoken from Spirit in gathering; I, likewise, have spoken out and later realized I did not sense that what I said was meant for the gathering.
This listening is like the Buddhist teaching on “emptiness.” Yet, the emptiness is not a vacancy, rather emptiness is a fullness ~ is Fullness. In emptiness is the realization everything is connected, in constant change, and I am of that, in communion by nature with that. Indeed, I am that, but not a sameness, for oneness expresses as diversity. I am never truly alone in Silence, in the Quiet, with Love. Rather, I often sense a heightening of sense of communion with others, human and otherwise.
* * *
we listen
for our lives to become
one, uninterrupted listening
* * *
So, as says Joeng, one can listen, trusting the naturalness and spontaneity of Nature, of Life. Cutting off all thinking does not mean trying to make the mind vacant and does not mean pushing thought away. Joeng refers to active thinking in which our seeking blocks receptivity. Thoughts come and go, as part of Nature, and it is unnatural to suppress thought.
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