There is so much shouting going on. You know how the more people you add to a space, the louder the conversations get because each person is trying to be heard. The sound will crescendo until it’s uncomfortable or annoying or someone draws everyone’s attention to it. Then the volume goes down but it will quickly go back up again. And if someone gets passionate about something, oh goodness! Well, with the internet and media and social media the world has become a large room and its crowded and it seems like everyone is shouting about their lives. It’s getting to the point where people feel the need to speak in all caps all the time just to be heard.
There are people who are doing that with their spirituality as well. Not that they have some kind of message to share or wisdom that people need to know about, although there are plenty of those. Toss a pebble in any direction and you’ll find one that’s probably to your liking. Or think of them as trading cards or action figures and collect the whole set. LOL No, what I’m talking about are the people who are seeking. They are seeking answers, seeking themselves, questioning things and looking behind every curtain, underneath every rug to find the truth. Which I think is great, btw, if in fact they are seeking in order to find answers.
For many, unfortunately, they aren’t seeking to find answers. If so they would be doing more listening. Like in search and rescue situations, if you are looking for a living person who is missing, you don’t continuously call out their name because in doing so you drown out their response and can miss the critical window in time where you can save their lives. If we are seeking, we need to listen. Just yelling in all caps that we’re seeking doesn’t help much. The yelling drowns out any answer that might come in response. Sometimes people seek in all caps because they don’t really want someone else’s answer, they are seeking others who agree with their answer. Finding others, hearing the echo of their own thunderous seeking validates their desires, their belief while drowning out every other answer or opinion.
So while all these people are shouting and not listening and their words become a rumbling thunder like a storm or the ocean, I’m going to quietly slip out the back door and listen to the birds, feel the breeze, and take some advice from my cat who is napping blissfully unaware of all the questions there are to ask. Time enough for them after enjoying the what is of this moment.
