Listening for the Holy Spirit

One of the common things I hear from clients and readers is, “I do trust the Holy Spirit. I just don’t trust myself to hear the Holy Spirit.”

“Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be not disturbed that shadows surround it. That is why you came. If you could come without them you would not need the holy instant.” (T-19.IV.2)

You have only two thought systems in your mind: The ego (personal thought system) and the Holy Spirit (Awareness of Truth). At any given moment you give your attention to one or the other. And that will be whichever one you trust at the moment. (For a long while you will trust both and vacillate between them). When you put your attention on your ability to hear you are thinking with the ego. It is what tells you to focus on your own abilities. It is what tells you to doubt your own abilities. But the Holy Spirit knows that you can hear It because It is the Truth in you. It knows that you just need to listen for It and you will hear It. So focusing on your ability to hear, rather than on just listening for the Holy Spirit, actually blocks your ability to hear the Holy Spirit!

Willingness, or openness, to hear the Holy Spirit is demonstrated by simply listening for the Holy Spirit. Your willingness does not need to be perfect. You do not have to be doubt free. You just need to sit back, relax, and listen for the Holy Spirit in your mind, whatever else is going on in your mind. You may not hear the Holy Spirit at that moment but with this practice you open your mind for It to enter your awareness when you are ready to hear It.

When you want to listen to music you do not consider your own ability to hear it.  You just turn on the music and listen. It is the same with the Holy Spirit. It is “on” all the time. The difference, though, may be that you know that when you turn the music on you will hear it but you may doubt that the Holy Spirit is here. But what would you lose by listening for It? If It does not exist you lose nothing because everything will be the same as it is. But if It is here you have Everything to gain. Why not give it a try?

Another obstacle may be your belief that you are not worthy to hear the Holy Spirit. But remember, the Holy Spirit represents your True Being. Does a tree have to be worthy of being a tree? Of course not. No more do you have to be worthy of What you are. Only the ego thinks in terms of worth. You must question what the ego tells you because it does not stand up to Truth. The Holy Spirit thinks only of bringing into your awareness What you are. Remember this if you find yourself resistant to listening for the Holy Spirit: You are listening for your Reality.

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It is when you try reach the Awareness of Truth that you encounter your obstacles to It: guilt and fear in all the ways that they show up. Finding and undoing these obstacles is what I work on with my clients. Email me at Liz@acimmentor.com to set up an appointment. You can learn more at www.acimmentor.com.


If you have a question the answer to which you think will help others email it to me at Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in the newsletter/blog.

Comments

hannah said…
liz, something im not sure about.

just say that often in meditation when you open to holy spirit the ego 'gets loud', and both reminding yourself that you will process later but now is time you are giving to opening to truth, and letting that personal thought system express, responding with love and Reason and turning inward to truth again, result in the thoughts and feelings of the ego being experienced louder and nastier. im persisting, and i can feel this dynamic above changing, but something a friend shared with me made me wonder. the article was in part about sitting with pain without 'doing anything with it'. this line from this blog made me think of that article "You just need to sit back, relax, and listen for the Holy Spirit in your mind, whatever else is going on in your mind."

ive been looking at resistance on a whole different level than i have before, or maybe its just with more willingness, im not sure. anyway, i have recognised that that for me at least, the feelings around trying to avoid pain, or discomfort, adds this feeling of, um.. 'impossible-to-be-with-ness'. it feels like being compressed into a mental space i dont fit in, at the SAME time as being pulled apart, best i can describe it. do you know the feeling? turning toward truth in meditation when the ego is loud has a similar though not as intense effect. i also get the feeling when i try to think of my future, and having to live out and fill a whole life somehow. it was very very strong when i self-harmed. anyhow, i am seeing how (for me currently, at least) that feeling, (or the thoughts behind the feeling), cause me much more emotional and mental disquiet and panic, and in general makes me feel more trapped and disrupts my life, much more than feeling pain does.. i guess cos then there is uncomfortable thoughts plus resistance, i can see it makes sense it would feel worse.

so, the first question is, do you think any of the thoughts or approaches above are totally unhelpful? do i keep just reaching for whichever one/s feels best in the mish-mash in each moment? can any be discarded now entirely?

the second is, can you see a connection between the scenarios i have said arouse the feeling, or identify a particular belief upholding it? i cant even identify what the feeling IS. i have a voice saying this is all a rabbit hole of 'unnecessary looking at' here, but im finally ready to face it, and am having trouble getting clarity by myself.

sorry this is convoluted, i am very confused!
hannah said…
reading this blog i felt something around hearing and listening. maybe im wrong, but it felt like listening is, initially at least, more empowering because it is a CHOICE. its like.. looking at the chain of cause and effect, listening has to come before hearing! so.. i cant choose to hear, directly in the moment as such, but i can choose to listen?! i can.. re-choose!
ACIM Mentor said…
Hannah, there are times when you go to meditate and the resistance is just too strong that you cannot just sit back and listen. It might be best to just stop for a while. I've also found that it can help to meditate with my eyes open, perhaps looking at a view or something scenic on the TV with the sound turned off. Sometimes closing my eyes to meditate seems to invite the ego into my awareness.

Also, sometimes something is trying to come up out of your subconscious. These times can feel like you are being pulled apart. You can try and get in touch with what's behind all the clatter and pulling apart. Just be willing for whatever it is to come up. You may want to have your laptop or paper and pen nearby so you can get it all out in writing as it does come up. You might have to endure the ego spew at first before you can get down to what is really going on.
Chris said…
Liz, what happens when you listen for the Holy Spirit? Is it like turning on music, meaning you can reliably and consistently hear a voice? Or is it often still quiet, meaning 'listening' to quietness?

Also, is it accurate to say that the Holy Spirit thinks, writes, and speaks through you?

I am a bit confused about if there is a Liz that listens to the Holy Spirit, or if there is only really the Holy Spirit listening to itself.


ACIM Mentor said…
Chris, now the HS is just here. It is my mind. The ego has become the "other" where the HS used to be the "other". I don't mean It is speaking all the time. It doesn't need to. The ego is speaking all the time! But when I need to hear the HS I just do.

I'd say the HS thinks, writes, and speaks in partnership with this mind. That has not really changed. What I mean by this is that when I write or speak it is from this mind's perspective and through this mind's filters even when what is written or spoken comes from the HS. So, for example, when I answer a question there are often many ways to answer. The answer through me will come from this mind's perspective and filters. The HS answering through me is not necessarily how It would answer through another. I know this because often when I read an answer I wrote to another I wonder why I said what I said when now I would answer something else! The answer is always first for the mind answering. We always teach ourselves. And what another does with the answer is between them and the HS, too.

The Holy Spirit would have no reason to speak to Itself because It would have no questions. This mind is still a "receiver" of sorts. The boundary between this mind and the HS is blurred so there's less a sense of "listening" and it's more just thinking. But this mind still stands between the HS and a questioner, that questioner sometimes being in this mind and sometimes others. I'd say this mind is an "instrument" of the HS.
hannah said…
liz.. thank you! it has helped a lot not closing my eyes when the ego is loud. bloody brilliant.

ive been sick for ages and have actually had some pretty goopy stuff surface, ive been seeing a lot of my manipulation and feelings of being 'ripped off'.. recognising internal ways the ego will give but only if its expecting something it values more in return, when i was sure i didnt expect anything there anymore! some of the values ive acknowledged have made me cringe... but then oh boy they just dropped.. not the values (though i feel some of those shifting) but the judgement of them!!! its just.. the ego being the ego, its brillo! and its been totally brilliant, miracles of seeing innocence instead! yep, brilliant is the word for the week! after reading your answer i have tried to let that particular feeling i spoke of surface again, but i think i need to wait til it just arises, cos i cant seem to find it right now. in perfect timing!
hannah said…
im wondering about something re your response to chris' question.

you say that the holy spirit is just here, it is your mind, and also that the HS thinks, writes, and speaks in partnership with this mind.

is that like saying that hs is mind at one with itself, working with itself not against itself?? sorry, i know words can give inaccurate pictures if you havent already expereinced what someone is sharing. im not as stuck on needing to grasp this as i was a few months back, it no longer feels urgent, or even needful really, but yeah i am still curious.
ACIM Mentor said…
Hannah, the reality of this mind is the Holy Spirit. But in its split state it is not wholly the HS. So that's why there is a sense of the HS using this mind as an instrument. If this mind was not split there would be no HS, no instrument, etc. There would just be mind without limitations, labels, etc.
hannah said…
right, gotchya! thank you very much.

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