Learning to really hear despite the noises of life
@innertalks (20998)
Australia
February 14, 2018 7:57pm CST
Joshua went to his spiritual master, and asked him for guidance on the path.
The master clapped his two hands together, and said to him then,
"Why is the sound there different from if I only used no hands to clap with?"
Joshua answered him,
"The sound would only be in your head then."
"Well, where is it now then," the master countered in reply.
Joshua, after thinking about this replied:
"Still in my head."
The master clapped once more even louder, and much harder this time.
"Well, get it out of your head, and you will have found the real answer, my son," he thundered loudly to his student.
The noise that we make is never greater than the noise in our hearts that has been placed there by our minds to drown out our heart's true message from us.
Learn to hear despite all of the outer noise, and you will then have gained ears that really hear.
Photo Credit:
This photo has been freely sourced from the free media site: Pixabay.com
Do not let your sadness close off your hearing to joy too.
3 people like this
3 responses
@peavey (16936)
• United States
15 Feb 18
Good food for thought. I agree with crossbones27, it would be good to have more of this type of content here. It does remind me of Zen Buddha. I tend to look at things like that suspiciously (
) but it's good to think sometimes. What's in our heads that comes from elsewhere can be good or bad, but "elsewhere" can mean a lot of things, too. Another thought: The sound of clapping hands can actually resonate for a long space of time, even forever, according to physicists.
) but it's good to think sometimes. What's in our heads that comes from elsewhere can be good or bad, but "elsewhere" can mean a lot of things, too. Another thought: The sound of clapping hands can actually resonate for a long space of time, even forever, according to physicists.2 people like this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
16 Feb 18
@innertalks So then it posted twice. Maybe a Buddha found it and returned it. 
2 people like this
@innertalks (20998)
• Australia
15 Feb 18
Yes, I have heard something like that too.
Once a sound is made it "exists" forever, but it scatters far and wide and to refocus it in order to hear it again, it would really take a Buddha to do that...LOL...
Mylot was going very slow yesterday, last night. It appeared that this post didn't post, so I tried to write it again, but it looks like it did post here, after all.
2 people like this
@innertalks (20998)
• Australia
15 Feb 18
Thanks, yes I have heard that somewhere too.
Once a sound is made it travels out forever, and scatters far and wide, but to hear it again, you would have to refocus it somehow, so that you could hear it, and I guess that only a Buddha could ever achieve that...LOL...
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (48409)
• Mojave, California
15 Feb 18
Yes, miss when people posted things like this. It happens here sometimes, but would like to see more of it. Love it. Well done sir Myself included, need to post more of my own stuff that rains in my mind. I have ADD though. 
2 people like this
@innertalks (20998)
• Australia
15 Feb 18
Thanks. Yes, I get some satisfaction from making up these types of tales. Yes, it's good to get the stuff out of our minds, onto paper sometimes.
2 people like this
@crossbones27 (48409)
• Mojave, California
15 Feb 18
@innertalks Amen brother please keep it up. Like the thoughtfulness and the time it took. Much appreciate,
2 people like this
@innertalks (20998)
• Australia
15 Feb 18
@crossbones27 Yes, thanks. It was loosely inspired by that old ZEN koan that goes, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
2 people like this
@innertalks (20998)
• Australia
17 Feb 18
Poetically put siva.
Yes, we should open our heart, or/and keep it open, so that these inner voices do not ever get stifled/drowned out.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (20998)
• Australia
18 Feb 18
@Shiva49 Sometimes the inner noises can block us too, especially if we have attached fear to them as well.
I saw some noisy rowdy people on the train today, for example, and my inner fear, or survival instinct blocked me from my feeling any heart connection to them.
It annoyed me a bit, that I could not really overcome this fear, and I thought that if I did do so, it might not be appropriate as well, and might even put me into danger.
Only Jesus Christ, I reckon, could love like God loves, as he also carried the power of God within him.
I have no such power, and so my fears remained today, to live on in me to another day as well, I suspect.
1 person likes this
@Shiva49 (26192)
• Singapore
17 Feb 18
@innertalks Yes Steve, outside noise can distract us but the inner voice guides us to the true path.
It is how we manage to complement the first with the latter decides how balanced we are during our ride here.
Sadly, the outside noise drowns out the inner to our dismay and distress - siva
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