11:11 Angels Message Board

Mark Nepo on holding and listening as two powerful instruments that turn experience into love... This is an exquisite point of view. At the end you'll discover this zinger... "Simply and profoundly, the work of love is to love. For in that act, the Universe comes alive."

"My own time on earth has led me to believe in two powerful instruments that turn experience into love: holding and listening. For every time I have held or been held, every time I have listened or been listened to, experience burns like wood in that eternal fire and I find myself in the presence of love. This has always been so. Consider these two old beliefs that carry the wisdom and challenge of holding and listening.

"The first is the age-old notion that when holding a shell to your ear, you can hear the ocean. It always seems to work. The scrutiny of medicine has revealed that when you hold that shell to your ear, you actually hear your own pulsations, the ocean of your blood being played back to you. Yet this fact does not diminish this mystery. It only enhances it. For holding a shell to our ear teaches us how to hear the Whole through the part, and how to find the Universe within us. It teaches us that when we dare to hold another being, like a shell, to our ear, we hear both the mystery of all life and the ocean of our own blood.

"Amazingly, each being has the story of the Universe encoded within them. Each soul is a shell shaped by the currents of the deep. Even physically, the inner ear — that delicate source of balance — is shaped like a conch. And so, whatever is held and listened to will show us where it lives in the world and in us."

The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life — by Mark Nepo

http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ ... view/14581

I am having difficulty finding the connection with finding god and living a life in service. What I mean is, is it selfish of me to cut social formalities because I’d rather go home and meditate, pray or read on matters that adjust my focus to spirit? If we are to love one another should I be attending parties or social gatherings that I feel have thrown off my progress in fulfilling my deeper desires?? Many of my friends and family do not understand when I don’t partake in the social festivities even if I do attend an event(choosing to not eat or drink for example). Not always but sometimes when you don’t reciprocate the audience- in a weird way you actually become cast out from having the opportunity to lend an ear or, your opinion on the matter is irrelevant. Other times it’s a challenge to resist the pleasantries offered and other times it’s simply difficult to remain aware in the moment. I’ve had moments where I did feel connected despite refraining from the expectations of a social gathering but have also been excluded because I’m noted as not as fun or just weird for coming to an event and not participating.