Listening

I woke up today thinking about Jackanory, it was a kids television show where celebrities like Bernard Cribbens would sit down and read a book over the course of the week. It ran for thirty years and has had several spin offs. Each episode was fifteen minutes long and adults and children alike were transfixed by the story. The same was true of the wireless or radio, you sat down to listen to The Archers or The Play. Story telling is a part of our history and would have existed long before our ancestors could write. It would have been a way of learning and teaching, of recording a tribes history. Now we rely on other forms of information and often we are listening while our attention is on candy crush or Facebook. The only time we truly listen to a story (excepting audio books) is when we are in Spiritualist churches or centres and an address, reading or philosophy is being given. The words spoken can often have so much meaning, the stories and philosophy can show us how much we can overcome and how much love can do. Whether we laugh or empathise, whether we learn something or recognise truth in the words it doesn't matter. The truth is in those moments of attentiveness we have stilled our bodies and minds, we are properly listening in the way our ancestors did, the love of spirit and the energies of congregation blend together and prepare the way for the evidence to come.