“When we reclaim the ancient art of listening, life itself begins to speak.” – Jack Kornfield

When we sit quietly, something extraordinary begins to reveal itself. When I am on retreat, my walks through nature come alive. I will pause in a quiet canyon to sit in silence. Soon a deer appears, a hawk soars overhead, turkey vultures circle, butterflies dance in the forest air, a small mouse rustles through the oak leaves. In such stillness, the world reveals itself in its fullness.

To listen deeply is at the very heart of spiritual life. When the Buddha sat beneath the Bodhi tree on the night of his enlightenment, he did not force an awakening—he listened. With all his senses he opened himself to the rhythms of the world, to the breath of life itself, to discover the way beyond suffering, to the mystery of being.

“To meditate is to remember, to reclaim, to reawaken the art of listening.” – Jack Kornfield

When we come to meditation, often we discover first how restless we are. The breath seems shallow or tight, our bodies carry tension, the mind spins with plans, memories, fears, and hopes. If we try to force our experience into an ideal—“this is how meditation should feel”—we end up chasing after maps and missing the forest. But if we allow ourselves to listen with patient loving awareness, the layers of our being gradually unfold.

Listening is not passive. It is an act of great compassion and humility, an activity of the heart. When we truly listen—to the cry of a child, to the tension in our body, to the ever-present flow of nature and the cosmos, to the voice of our dearly beloved—we honor life itself. At this polarized time on the planet, we humans need to listen deeply, with care. True listening is what heals families, nourishes communities, and restores our connection to the earth.

“What is it that most people want? To be listened to, to be acknowledged, honored, heard from the heart.” – Jack Kornfield

As Rumi reminds us: “Silence is like an ocean, speech is like a river. When the ocean is searching for you, don’t walk to the river, listen to the ocean.”

When we reclaim the ancient art of listening, we remember that beneath all the noise, all the striving, there is a great silence that holds everything. In this silence, life itself is always speaking to you.

The question is—are you listening?

With metta,
Jack

With metta,
Jack