When my son, Jonathan, was much younger, I would try to
help him with some of his tasks, whether it was his
homework, chores or even just plain, simple advice.
Many a time he would look at me in exasperation and
say, "I know that, dad." Even when he did solicit my
help directly, he would listen, but not "hear" what I
had to say.
Now, mind you, I do not claim to be a paragon of
excellent advice or wisdom, but many of the things I
told him would have saved him tremendous amounts of
time, frustration and heartaches. As Jonathan grew
older, he learned to listen a bit more, so instead of
discounting most of what he heard, he would evaluate,
weigh the merits or lack of, and then make choices
based on what was consistent with his idea of right and
wrong or good and bad.
The Universe speaks to us all the time. It doesn't
always do it in ways that we expect. Sometimes a
message comes from a friend and at other times, it may
be someone we do not really care for who brings a very
clear message to us. There are times when the messages
are sent through dreams, or books, or radio, TV, the
Internet and even the more prosaic form of the
telephone.
If we close our minds and think that "we know that
already," we may miss the one little point that could
have saved us a lot of trouble. Keeping an open mind
gives us an opportunity to evaluate the communications
we receive and then make decisions based on our own
true feelings.
The story is told about some scientists who went into
an apple orchard to study apples. They were busy with
their notepads and pencils, measuring the dimensions of
the apples they found. They observed and noted the
size, weight and colors of the fruit while off to their
left sat one of their fellow scientists under a large
apple tree. He was quietly eating an apple.
All the other scientists knew about apples. The one who
was eating the apple knew "apples." Knowing about
something does not necessarily mean knowing the thing.
Knowing about God does not mean knowing God. Knowing
about the secrets and laws of the Universe will not do
us much good if there is not the deep knowing in our
hearts and souls.
There have been hundreds of thousands of people who've
read one or more of my books. Among the many wonderful
email I receive would be one or two short, to the point
comments saying something to the effect of, "I know all
that already. I've been practicing all that stuff for
years and so you haven't told me anything new."
My feeling is that there is really nothing new. As the
Book of Ecclesiastes says, "There is nothing new under the
sun." What I think is new is the interpretation we
bring to things, the different way we look at the
information we receive. We can choose to see if,
perhaps, there are any gems in what we hear and see or
any wisdom in what we read or listen to.
By opening up our minds to new possibilities, we may
find that we are being led by that glorious, higher
self within us to explore possibilities that have the
potential to bring us peace, joy, wealth, success --
all good things.
If someone tells you that you shouldn't do something
because it doesn't work, what that person is really
saying is that it doesn't work for him. Listen to your
heart, gather all the information and let the Universe
show you how to make it work.
Jonathan listens a lot more these days. He reflects and
thinks about what he hears, sees or reads. He is
willing to listen to points of view that are totally
different from his own without getting defensive as he
used to. As a result, he has become more tolerant, more
compassionate and, in many ways, more successful. He
has grown into a fantastic young man who, I am sure,
will bring much credit to all that he chooses to do.
Let us not be like the person in the little ditty who
says:
"In matters controversial, my perception's really fine.
I always see both points of view -- the one that's
wrong and mine."
Let us, instead, listen to all that comes to our notice
and after reflecting on it, exhibit the qualities of
tolerance, peace, understanding and compassion. And as
Commander Spock would say, "Live long and prosper."
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