Exploring the Future of Listening
8.7 Exploring Future Experiential Learning Activities for Listening to the Divine
I build on selected parts of Chapter Six on listening to the Divine to explore additional experiential learning activities.
Holy Listening
Reflecting on consolations at the end of the day is part of the Ignatian method of listening to the Divine described in Chapter Six. Some of these consolations are framed by researchers as expressions of gratitude.[1] I narrate a particular type of gratitude practice from Rachael Naomi Remen’s talk to health professionals on the Art of Living.[2] We can sometimes become so distracted and numbed by the pace and intensity of modern technological life in industrialized countries that we lose sight of life’s larger significance and meaning. Spirituality provides a portal to view and appreciate the significance and meaning of life. Remen’s gratitude practice focuses on the meaning and importance of our lives through a holy listening practice. Remen describes this spiritual listening practice as “looking for holy moments.”
Practicing Holy Listening
I paraphrase Remen’s instructions for holy listening.[3]
- Before bedtime, review the day backward from the present moment to the morning rising time.
- Ask three questions.
- For each question, begin with the present moment and review the day backward until some experience answers the question.
- Briefly describe the answer in a journal, then move to the next question.
- Again, review the day backward until an answer is found.
- The asking, reviewing, finding, and writing occurs three times, one for each question.
The three questions are:
- What surprised me today?
- What touched my heart today?
- What inspired me today?[4]
Remen has used this “listening to holy moments” as a gratitude practice in her workshops with medical doctors for many years. Medical students who practice holy listening often discover Divine refreshment among the hard realities of medical school. She finds that for seasoned doctors, the practice of holy listening develops capacities to see the sacred, the mystery, and the beauties of life as they unfold in ordinary moments of their daily practice. I invite you to discover greater meaning and purpose through holy listening to the everyday moments in your life.
Meditation as Listening to the Divine
There are many resources on meditation that could be used to inform our listening. An Amazon book search on March 27, 2023, using the keyword “meditation,” shows 60,000 results that could potentially be harvested for listening insights. I do not attempt to do so here, but perhaps someone else might.[5] Instead, I write from what I’ve read and have been taught by my teachers on meditation. I hope these mediation resources serve as entry points into listening to the Divine.
Marcia Nelson’s Come and Sit describes meditation from the perspective of several well-established meditation traditions: Christian Centering, Zen Buddhist and Tibetan Buddhi