For many, it was so fleeting as to be easily forgotten or simply dismissed… but there was a moment where the mind was clear and inwardly you knew. You’ve certainly experienced a moment of inner guidance that led you in the best direction you could possibly have gone in. Yet the power was not in how loud it shouted. In fact it came as a gentle whisper, without fanfare. The power was in how undeniably true; how unequivocally right you knew the direction to be.
We’ve all known this experience, in some form. Yet when life is tumultuous we may wish for something louder; something to cut through the bickering turmoil in our minds when the voice within can seem so lost and obscured by the noise. Why should it be so still?!? Or small?!? …we might plead, when we need to hear it now, more than ever?
And as we all know, Truth will set you free… not control you. That still small voice doesn’t shout and demand because it doesn’t seek to control you. If it did control you, you couldn’t be free. If you didn’t have complete freedom and volition and choice, then you would be powerless, and therefore a victim. Your only possibility would be bondage. But the inner prompt doesn’t speak for bondage; it speaks for your freedom. Thus it will never demand of you… it will never seek to take away your own power to choose, because you could not then be free. How could powerless victimized bondage have anything to do with being whole and complete and loving and unassailable and free? Truth will always set you free. Not put you in bondage.
So the inner voice will never be demanding. It does not seek to control you. It will remain a gentle whisper, born from its home in complete peace.
Yet in our storm and stress we may still wish for that gentle whisper to somehow rise above the other choices we might make and proclaim itself. But to overcome you, or overcome the other choices you might make, the still small voice would have to attack; to fight or contend with these alternatives. It would have to make war, not peace. Yet it is incapable of such arrogance, being born from peace… and peace is always stronger than war.
Why? Because peace heals. War tears apart. But peace heals. Thus the still small voice will never command forces against you. It is incapable of such arrogance, and could only, then, tap you gently on the shoulder, and whisper in your ear. It is compelling; not because of the way it speaks but because of what it reminds you of. It is compelling because of what it points you towards. It calls you towards peace because it is, itself, wholly and completely born of peace. One can never be led to love by force. Only by choosing it of your own freewill, because you are as free as God.
Information may arrive via any outer vehicle at all: a song, a book, a meme, a conversation overheard, a wagging tail; a look on someone’s face. Digital or analog. It could come from any inner form as well: a dream, an insight, a feeling, communion with inner dimensions or beings or Spirit… It doesn’t matter the form, most of which we wouldn’t describe strictly as a “voice” anyway. None is better or greater or more elevated than any other. Ultimately, regardless of the form by which it arrives, there is a movement of mind. A recognition – or, a “re-cognition” – which is why it is so often described as a “knowing.” One could even say everything – inner and outer – beckons us.
What shall we call this still small voice? This knowing? Every culture on earth, religious or secular, has had a name for it. Higher Self, Holy Spirit, Presence, Atman, Divine Mind, Angels, Guides, or simply: Intuition. Creative Impulse or Inner Prompt will do. Whatever works. The name doesn’t really matter.
And if we wish to hear this still small voice, we are best directed to our own peace. When you wonder which choice is right… look and listen carefully for the one that emanates from the deepest peace and calls you towards the deepest peace. The more we connect with our own peace, the more we tend to hear that still small voice.
So come! Just come! Come and quiet down. Come listen within. Come to this peace, that you may hear that still small voice and know.
For those who feel called to explore this stillness in shared presence, you’re warmly invited to join one of the upcoming group meditation gatherings.
Peace… Peace be with you.
Reader reflections
"Read your words with joy and gratitude. You feel like family, spreading peaceful insight and inspiration all over the world. May be a strange thing to say, but I'm still comforted that you are here in physical form. Makes it easier for me to be here."
— Peggy Sue Smith
"Your article reminds me that our will makes us free and in charge of our soul, and walking this life in absolute freedom of all choices we make. Freedom is the ultimate gift from the Father."
— Alcyone Nettels
Jonah
Spiritual teacher and energy healer based in Seattle. Offering sessions in person and worldwide via Zoom.
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Each chapter of this ebook and guided meditation invites you into a living shift in awareness, not a description of it from a distance.