Practicing the Presence: Expanded Listening

Today I am going to give you another practice in Practicing the Presence. And by Presence I mean that reality that exists within us and around us at all times, permeating all things. It’s actually not what we’re looking at; it’s the space between us and what we’re looking at.

It makes me think that a relationship is the invisible connection between people. It’s not what two bodies do together that really makes the relationship; it is this connection that’s invisible. You can illustrate how it feels, what it looks like and so forth, but it’s more about the Presence that two people have created, or more than two people have created. But the Presence is the unchanging reality in which we live even now. Though we live in a physical, changing, evolving reality, we’re also still living in this permanent reality.

So today I’m going to give another way of experiencing this: what I think of and call peripheral listening. This is more about listening than seeing because we’re always listening to things—we’re listening to ourselves or listening to others or listening to the world. But today I want to talk about listening to the Presence. And at the very outset, I want to emphasize that we’re listening here not to get information, insights, answers, revelations, spiritual meaning; we’re just listening. We’re practicing to develop the ability to hear beyond the normal range of things. And as I go forward, I’ll tell you why that’s so important, even in our daily experience of engaging with the normal range of things.

Peripheral listening is an attempt to hear and connect with this space that exists between all things and even within all things. I think of the universe here, as almost all of it is space. No matter how big a planet or star may be, it’s infinitesimal compared to the space that it occupies. So we are mostly made up of space, space between our atoms in our body, for example.

But today I want to focus on listening. And in this kind of listening, you’re not listening to a person or a thing specifically, or a sound or a source of sound like music because that all stimulates the mind in generating memories, hopes, fears, wishes, longings, happiness, sadness, the remembrance of experiences, or places or people and so forth. You’re listening for something that seems at first to be very silent: space. You’re not listening for vibrations; you’re not listening for psychic events or realities or forces. You’re listening to the pure space. It’s very important. You’re not listening to try to get anything because if you can set that aside, then you really have an opportunity to open yourself up, which is what this is about.

In peripheral listening, you begin to extend your auditory range outward, to the side. And it helps to be gazing at something. You can do this with eyes open at the beginning so that the radar that normally exists deep within your ear now begins to become bigger, more expanded, reaching outward. And as it reaches outward, it can actually become like a sphere around you. So you are listening behind you; you are listening to the side of you; you are listening above you and below you, everywhere, as if you are existing in a sphere of the Presence.

Many people say: “Ah, it’s nothing. You’re listening to nothing. There’s nothing there.” But they don’t know. Actually what’s most important is there. Because in this thing that seems to be empty and devoid of movement, sound, life, is the Presence of our Creator, is the presence of those who sent us into the world, is the presence of our Ancient Home. We’re still there. A part of our mind that we live in almost all the time is living in this world, but another part of us is still living in this Presence. This is the deeper, spiritual part of us that I call Knowledge, the deeper immortal part of us that is still connected to our Ancient Home, to our Source and to those who sent us here.

In this practice, we begin by just beginning to attune ourselves to a larger sphere. We’re not trying to gain access to anything specific. Expanding your ears outward and around you and above you, you’re listening to stillness. You’re doing this so you can develop this ability.

This is a training; this is a practice; this is a preparation. It is not a “do something and get a reward.” You’re developing skill and awareness here. This brings you into the realm of the Presence, which is very still but very deep. It becomes then the medium within which, eventually, you can receive directives, counsel and even restraint from those who watch over you and from Knowledge deep within yourself…both.

Now I’m going to give you some practical ways of experiencing this. When you are listening to somebody who’s speaking to you, begin…you can stay with them, but you can also begin to Practice the Presence. And when you do that, you begin to hear things from them beyond their words, their feelings, their emotions, their intentions. Eventually, you will be able to experience their core reality.

Now you only want to do this in a very important conversation. You do not want to open yourself in this way to whoever is talking to you because that would flood you. That is not appropriate here. This is for listening to someone who is saying something important to you, someone who is important to you, someone who you really need to hear, deeply.

And to do this, you can’t want anything from them. You can’t have a judgment against them. You have to become totally neutral. You’re not there to try to answer a question. You’re just listening, spatially with this, almost like you’re in a sphere again, maybe it’s a very small sphere because you’re with somebody and you don’t have time to go into a deeper level. But you’re listening in this way and taking in whatever it is, not only from them but from the environment you’re in or anything else. Maybe you’ll hear something about your life that you need to consider.

But again, you’re developing a set of skills and awareness here that opens you up to a Greater Reality and to guidance and counsel from a Greater Reality, which is your Source and those who sent you into the world. Sitting quietly in a room, if you have a few moments even, practice this spatial listening.

There’s nothing in space that your mind will react to because your mind responds to objects and movement and sound and communication, even subtle forms of communication, invisible forms of communication. But this is just the space that you live in. That’s what we’re going for here.

This takes you beyond normal listening. Practicing the Presence in this way is only to begin to experience this reality. Since you are listening all the time, take the moments you have of quiet during the day or opportunities to listen to someone whose communication seems very important to do this practice, to attempt it. Your mind will get in the way, of course, because you are used to being dominated by your mind. You’ll have to set it aside, maybe repeatedly. That’s fine; that’s normal. You begin to listen.

When you’re practicing meditation with your eyes closed, it can be more difficult because, again, now you’re exposing yourself to your whole inner reality, which is generally very much dominated by the outside world; dominated by your responses, your feelings, your fears, fantasies and so forth.

When you begin to expand your ears outward, even in meditation, you begin to focus on the Presence. And there’s nothing for your mind to attach itself to in the Presence. So here your mind, with practice, will begin to quiet down.

It becomes like a radar, an array of radars that are listening to the universe. But in this case, it’s not the physical universe. It is something even bigger than that, but close to you, even within you. You are listening now with this expanded listening to what is inside, which is also space.

It is a great vessel that the Presence of your Source can fill.

We want to build this vessel first, rather than trying to have anything beyond it. Building this capacity, this openness, this willingness, this humility, this lack of being acquisitive, trying to get something, we just want to build this capacity of being a vessel.

The mind will tend to fill things in but set all of that aside. This is all about developing your connection to the Presence.

You can have no ambition here if you are to be successful, for if you are ambitious, the Presence will not come to you, for the ambitious are never chosen.

This profound sense of stillness is incredibly rejuvenating to your mind and your body. It is one of the most powerful health remedies there is, even for your physical vehicle here on earth. But beyond that, you’re allowing your mind to go beyond its normal parameters in the most healthy and efficacious way.

The person who can be still, who can really hear things and really see things, is the person who will see what others cannot see, know what others cannot know and do what others cannot or will not do.

All of that awareness, all of that power, all of that freedom, all of that intention emerges out of the great stillness which is your connection to the Presence, which generates a still mind.

Be very patient here. You cannot undo your entire life habit of living in your mind and suddenly escape it all of a sudden. This will be very incremental. You might only have moments, even seconds, of experiencing the Presence. But that is good. That is where you start. That is where you build your bridge outward regarding your engagement with the world, and inward regarding your engagement with the deeper reality that lives within you the power and presence of Knowledge that lives within you the greater Intelligence that the Source of all life has put there to guide and protect you and to lead you to a greater service in the world.

This is a practice. It will take time and patience. You begin with little steps and you go from there. The study of Steps to Knowledge will teach you this every day, safely, powerfully, one step at a time. It is given to you that you may begin to experience the reality of your purpose and meaning in the world; the reality of your greater life; the reality of your Source, your origin and your destiny.

May this Presence be with you and may you be with it as much as you can.

Nasi Novare Coram.