Hearing the Deeper Voice

Have you ever had a great idea? It may have been an idea that you felt was very compelling and very possible for you to fulfill at the time that you had it.  Maybe it was an idea for a new business. Maybe it was an idea for a new invention. Maybe you wanted to learn a new language or go back to school or to dedicate yourself to running a more efficient home. Whatever your great idea was, it’s origin was from your deeper inner voice –  your kol penimi, a voice that we all have but that we don’t hear very often because it’s been drowned out by all of the noise in the world around us and all of the internal noise that tends to echo within us.  For these reasons our inner voice has grown very faint and very dim.

At one time or another we’ve all had a “great” idea to do something or start something – and most likely the  reason that we felt it was a great idea, at the time, was because it was something that we really have the ability to do.

So what is stopping so many people from following through on those eureka moments when they think to themselves:  “I’ve got it! That’s it! What a great idea!”?

The answer, in one word, is FEAR.

It could be fear that they don’t think they’re smart enough or that they’re not confident enough, or that they can’t do it alone and there is no one to help them – some just say, “Hey, every time I’ve tried to succeed at something it’s never worked anyway – so who am I kidding – is it really going to work this time?!” “Definitely not!”

If it weren’t for the many fears and doubts that gnaw away at peoples’ confidence, there would be so many more people fulfilling their potential and living better lives. So what is the best antidote for fear?

In one word it’s EMUNA.

Belief in yourself and belief in G-d leads to immediate peace and serenity and with fear out of the way, you’ll have the strength to follow through and take action on your very best ideas. The moment that you align yourself with your faith, you won’t have any fear and your natural energy, strength, talent and motivation will come out.

Why did King David say: “Your emuna is in the night?” He said it so that we, today, should understand a very important psychological point. Imagine what it’s like to walk down a very dark path at night. Would you run down that path without thinking, or would you take slow measured steps – one at a time? Taking one reasoned, thought-out step at a time is the way of emuna. You take a step toward your goal and then you stop and detach from it for a while so that you can calmly contemplate your action, and its effect (which you know is coming from G-d).  Then after you have viewed your action and G-d’s response to it from different angles and perspectives you are ready to take your next “right” step.  Each step that you take will be “determined” and predicated on G-d’s response to your previous efforts.

When you use emuna to achieve a readiness to take fearless action, you’ll sometimes move through the steps toward your goal with simplicity and ease. You’ll have a certainty that G-d is behind your plan because He is helping you achieve it.

At other times, G-d may deem it necessary for us to experience some pain as we move through this process. This is where most people get stuck. If G-d is making it easy, most of us can get through the creative process, but when the process becomes more painful, that’s when we go back to fear and doubt: “Is this really coming from G-d or am I kidding myself again?” The yetzer, or evil inclination, may send the discouraging messages from the most “unlikely” people. He may send you discouragement through your husband or your wife, through your best friend or even your closest advisor. Beware, the yetzer can also disguise himself and speak to you in your own voice so that you really think that it’s YOU who is trashing all those great ideas that you had.

So what’s the solution? How can we get feedback that we can trust in order to know whether to pursue a goal or to continue with a project that is meeting heavy resistance? The answer is that we must reveal the deeper power of “listening” that we all possess. This is a completely non-intellectual type of listening, a listening with the heart and not the ears, which we aren’t used to doing.  You will develop this capacity only when you are away from the noise of the world and by yourself. You will hear your kol penimi, your inner spiritual voice only when you get everybody and everything out of your head for a while – except for yourself and Hashem.

Yet you won’t be able to tune into the higher frequencies of yourself and Hashem if you are merely secluded in the woods or in the field, since everyone and anything can enter your mind at any time. You must learn to calm the static and noise in your mind that is occluding your inner voice, the voice of your unique soul which has a unique relationship to Hashem. The message that you need to hear is a message that only your soul can hear. 

There are three steps to this process. Step one is to hear the call of a great idea – to notice and pay attention to valuable ideas that bubble up in your mind. The more quiet our lifestyle and more time we take to calm our senses, our minds and our bodies, the more we will hear these often missed higher frequencies that give us good ideas and good advice.

Step two is to commit yourself to “the call.” At this stage, you are ready to shift into an emuna- mode- of- being in order to do whatever you can to further your goal. At this point you say to yourself: “I know that this thing must get done (whatever it is); I know that I’m the one to do it; and I know that I’m the person who CAN do it!”

Step three is to move through the threshold and take the fearless action that’s necessary to battle the obstacles which come, all the while keeping yourself calm with emuna and keeping your spiritual ears wide open. Do this until you reach your goal or until Hashem points you in a better direction.