I Can't Hear You

Do you remember disagreements when you were a small child that would escalate to the point where you would plug your ears and say, "I can't hear you!  I can't hear you!"?  Now we have grown up and don't use the same tactics, but do we really listen any better?  I don't think so.  All that you have to do is look at the political landscape and see how people on every side of an issue drown out dissenting viewpoints with name calling and loud rantings.  It isn't just Republicans who do it, and it isn't just Democrats--it is all of us.

The natural inclination of all humans is to believe that our opinion is the one that is based in truth.  When other people have different ideas, we take it personally, and see it as an attack. So, if we don't punch the "idiot" that disagrees with us, we do at least block out the "noise" with unintelligible sounds of our own. 

I would like to say that it is just "all of you" that do this, and that I am innocent, but I am one of the worst perpetrators of the crime of "always having to be right."  It is a horrible crime because it demeans the integrity of the individual against whom it is committed, but it is also dangerous.  And the reason that it is dangerous is because it puts an immediate end to any future dialogue.

Shutting down dialogue is harmful for many reasons.  One is that the input of a second party might keep us from doing something that will ultimate cause problems.  Another is that the insight of that party might also help us to see an answer that is beneficial.  Those are two really good reasons to take the time to listen to what someone else has to say.  You might not always experience wisdom from a second viewpoint, but sometimes you will.  Closing your ears means that that will never happen.

Jesus frequently said, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear."  Allow me to give my loose paraphrase of that statement:  If you have ears, then you should be listening with them.  Their purpose is not to provide a hole in which to put your fingers.

When Jesus used this phrase, he was suggesting that people were plugging their ears when God was trying to speak to them.  That pretty much defeats the real purpose of ears: hearing.  Sure, they are for hearing people, but more importantly, they are given to hear God.  Maybe we should use them more often.

If anyone is going to give me advice on how to stay out of trouble and then on how to experience good things, it is probably God. 

I spend a great deal of my life making my own noise and drowning out God.  And I put my fingers in my ears alot when God disagrees with me.  That means I am shutting down a dialogue with God.  Maybe that isn't a good idea.

I do, after all, "have ears to hear."  Maybe I should "let them hear."