Once you set your intention to talk and walk with God, you will begin to get guidance. You were getting guidance before this, but you probably didn’t consciously realize it. Once you consciously begin to ask for guidance, there will be three different voices that can respond.
The three voices are: 1.The Voice of darkness that wants to take you away from the Divine. 2. Your ego or the self. and 3. The voice of God. You only want to listen to the voice of God, so you will need to learn how to discern the difference between the three, to weed out anything that is from your ego or the darkness. Let’s look at this more deeply.
Wait! What about the Third Eye. Don’t psychics and seers use the Third Eye to get their information? Yes, many do. Any study of “extra-sensory perception” (ESP) will naturally lead you to learning about what is called the “third eye”, also known as the sixth, or “brow” chakra. The “third eye” is the place where understanding and conscious recognition of sensing happens. It is where images, ideas, words, and sensations are registered. The first station of the nafs in Music of the Soul talks about all 3 voices. What it says about the voice of the ego, the “Nafs,” is: “This word contains all the things that come from your self – your perception, your hearing, your feeling, the voices in your mind.” Doesn’t that kind of sound like the same list?
With the 3rd eye, you are often able to distinguish subtle colors, shapes, sounds, and impressions. It is possible to use this area alone to perceive subtle energies, and you can get quite a bit of information this way, sometimes very accurate information.
But Sidi says in MOS that the heart is the doorway to the Divine. Through the heart, you
are able to access your internal connection to that which is larger and greater than
your individualized self. Some people know many things, see many things, but have no sense of a higher purpose. They may see all kinds of things, and yet their lives lack the peace, the love, and the light of living a holy, spirit-infused life. This is what often happens when the third eye sees without the heart. The third eye without the heart is like a boat without a rudder.
The Arabic word for “eye” is ‘ayn. It means “eye, source, or spring” – like the eye of a hurricane. It is the calm center, the source which nourishes your spirit, the spring at the center which gushes forth and flows outward; the place where your spirit is intimately connected with the Divine flow. When I ask you to access the Eye of your Heart, I am wanting you to drop inside yourself and be in the deepest, most still place you can feel, and listen. If you have ever swam underwater and then stopped all movement, all effort, and just floated, waiting, quiet… that’s the kind of feeling I’m talking about. It’s a complete immersion in the ocean of your Remembrance. Which is why the Remembrance is one of the very first practices given in your homework.
Your heart, as the center of your being, was designed for the environment of Oneness.
It plays in the realm of love and unity, and is the place where you experience
connection to all things, great and small. Spiritual union, the experience of proximity
with the Divine – these are your heart’s natural environment. Inspired by love,
yearning for compassion, driven by an intrinsic sense of goodness; your heart is
fulfilled by these qualities more than anything else the material world can offer.
How your heart connects to Oneness is by remembering the Divine. Whenever your heart experiences connectedness with the Divine – whether through nature, through love, through spiritual practices – then it finds harmony, balance, and the “rightness” of being as it was meant to be, fulfilling its purpose.
The Remembrance is a tool that helps your heart make that connection and bridge into the Reality of Oneness. It is a doorway through which you can enter into communion with the Divine. And while there are many doorways, the practice of the Remembrance is something you can do anytime, anyplace, in any situation, and therefore is the perfect tool to use when needing guidance. My favorite description of the presence of the Divine in creation is from my Sufi teacher. He writes, “God is the eye of the existence of everything.” It’s a refreshing way of seeing how God’s Essence is within the center of everything in creation, bringing it into existence and uniting it all. The Remembrance is a way to tap into that Divine eye.
The Voice of Darkness
Now back to the three voices. First, let’s talk about the voice of the darkness. The voice of the darkness is the voice that would have you believe in emptiness. It is the voice that always comes up with the worst possible outcome for you. Sufis sometimes call this “the evil whisperer” because it seems to subtly whisper in your ear something for you to focus on that comes from dark thoughts.
Here are a couple of examples with an answer the darkness might give you: See that pretty girl over there? You want to meet her? You’ll probably screw it up. Why in the world would she ever be interested in you?
What’s going on with my health? It must be cancer/heart disease/(insert scary
disease here).
There was a great job advertised that you think would be a great fit for you. Apply? You’re just going to blow it. There are probably dozens of people more qualified than you.
The voice of the darkness will always try to convince you that you are bad, you are wrong, and that anything you do will only lead to loneliness, misery, and emptiness. The voice of darkness can also tell you that other people are bad, wrong, and out to get you. Either way, the effect this voice has on your heart is constriction, fear, emptiness, a downward spiral that ends in a void. But the upside of it is, all the voice of the darkness really does is show us where we hold our doubts, our fears, and beliefs of emptiness. It is an amplifier of your fears. All it really does is amplify your own insecurities, doubts, and uncertainties. The voice then is really your own voice only pumped up to a higher volume. This voice can only “get in” through the voice of your ego/nafs. As you clean and heal the nafs, the voice of darkness is able to wield less and less influence/power.
The Voice of your Ego or the Nafs
Your self is the product of all your beliefs, desires, and pictures, plus all that develops from those: veils, thoughts, impulses, emotions, preferences, feelings, conclusions, habits, etc. It is the lens you look through. The sum total of all your experiences since the moment you were conceived. Maybe even before that.
Your mind is constantly asking questions, and your mind is constantly generating answers. Your conclusions about life are based on your experience, your filters, your understandings about how things work. You are constantly writing your own version of life, based on your past. So when you need some guidance, and you ask yourself a question, what typically happens? Most of the time, your natural tendency kicks in, and you give yourself an answer. And it may even sound pretty good. Is it Divine guidance? How do you know?
You know by the effect it has on your heart. When you listen to your self, there isn’t much of a change. When you were listening to the darkness, your heart got tight and you felt fearful, which is a pretty clear indicator that something’s off. But when you listen to your self, chances are you’ll end up with a similar feeling in your heart as when you started. It’s requires you to tune into a subtle feeling, but it still is a way to know if you received true guidance.
The Voice of the Divine
According to the Qur’an, the Torah, and the Bible, it’s not really possible to have a direct experience of the Voice of God. Moses, peace be upon him, was said to have asked God for a direct vision of Him, and the answer came back, “‘You cannot see Me [in this world], but look to the mountain – if it remains in its place – then you will see Me.’ But when his Lord unveiled [His glory] to the mountain He made it crumble to dust and Moses fell down – thunderstruck.” [7:143]
So what happens when you turn to the Divine for guidance? You are given a sign, an
experience of the Presence of the Divine, a connection to the One that opens in your
heart the knowing of all you need to know. At times, the message that comes to you
comes through a messenger, such as an angel or a guide. Or it might come through something you’ve read. The experience of it is so clear that it feels as if you are seeing God, hearing God, and knowing the Divine Will directly.
The effect on your heart when you hear the Voice of the Divine is one of expansion,
peace, and resolution. There is an elevation of your perspective that can only happen
from listening to this Voice because your heart is being consciously connected with
more than just your self. It is the only way to access anything beyond your own self.
A deep sense of knowing gets kindled in your heart when you listen to the Voice of the Divine.
In the beginning, this Voice feels subtle, but in time,the Divine Voice gets clearer and more pronounced, and you eventually become so attuned to it that it becomes “second nature” not only to recognize it, but to listen only to this Voice. And that’s a very, very good thing.
So what happens when a part of you doesn’t like what you hear? Does that mean you hearing the Voice of the Divine? Check your heart. If it’s still open, expanded and calm, then it is resonating with the Voice of the Divine. And it’s impossible for the self to generate that state. So why do we doubt our true guidance? Because the guidance was not what the self wanted to hear. The heart was at peace, but the self was in reaction, because following it meant the self was going to have to let go of something it had been holding on to. The experience was mixed because the self is attached to having its own way, but the heart knows what is right.
If you find yourself in such a situation, keep engaging your Remembrance, and
continue to ask for guidance. In time, the “rightness” of what your heart knows will
win out, and it’ll be much easier to make the shift. Ultimately, when Truth is present,
illusion cannot remain.
Surrender
The next step of opening up to true guidance is to surrender to the Divine. By
surrender, I mean yielding your thoughts to what you sense through your heart. This
is taking what you are beginning to feel from the Remembrance, and traveling further
with it.
You’ve got quite a dialogue of internal voices happening inside you, pretty much all the time. You’re about to pull into a busy street. One voice inside you says, “go”, another says, “wait”, while another says, “now? should I go now?” It’s quite a conversation – and quite a miracle we’re able to get anything done at all! Now, this is an example with something as easy as pulling into a busy street. Imagine the cacophpony of voices that are going to get activated if you start trying to listen for guidance on bigger issues. So what will stop the voices, since plugging your ears won’t work?
Turn the Volume Down
Yielding your thoughts to what you sense in your heart is about turning the volume up
on your heart, and turning the volume down on the other voices in your mind. You might recall in the teaching by Aisha on acceptance, I mentioned the teaching in MOS that talks about the heart having 2 doors. One door opens to the Nafs (closing off communication to the soul) and one door opens to the soul/ voice of the divine (closing off the voice of the ego/nafs).
Have you ever tried getting a voice in your head to stop? Me, too. Didn’t work so well,
did it? You can sometimes shut it up for a few seconds, but then as soon as
you turn your back… there it is again. It didn’t go away – it just quieted down so you’d
leave it alone. Turning the volume up or down isn’t about trying to get the voices in your head to stop. It’s about choosing what you are listening to, and paying more attention to one voice over another.
How to adjust the volume
Intention is the key. There are no knobs, switches, access panels, or a remote control that activates the movement of your consciousness. Everything you do, think, or make happen inside you is all a product of your intention. Set your intention to listen more to
your heart, visualize yourself turning the volume knob for your self-voices down as you turn the knob for your heart up, louder and louder. As you do this, “lean in” to your heart, as if turning an ear inside you to listen more deeply to your heart’s signals. This will help you focus exclusively on what your heart is telling you, and the other voices will start to fade into the background, or fade away completely. It takes a bit of practice, but most people get it very quickly.
Then you can check the state of your heart to see if if it is expanded and open or not. Gauge how successfully you were able to filter out the self-voices and listen only to your heart’s voice. And rest assured, the more you practice this, the easier it gets, and the quieter the self-voices will become.
Ultimately, your level of surrender is based more on your “being” rather than your “doing.”
Meaning, the more surrendered to the Divine you are as a person, the more guidance
you are going to receive.
Here’s a shorty summary of the steps:
Step One: Be in a quiet place that allows you to be in the optimum environment for connecting. Set your intention. Be in Remembrance. Take as much time as you need to let yourself connect deeply with the Presence of the Divine in your heart.
Step Two: Ask for a message, knowing, or a connection to what is within the deepest
part of your heart that you have been brought to this place to give.
Step Three: Stay in Remembrance and watch/feel your heart. Wait until you feel the
inspiration come – it may be instantaneous, it may take a while. When you feel the
welling up in your heart, the sense of expansion to the point of fullness, stay in
Remembrance and allow what is in your heart to start to flow.
So how do you know what to trust? In order to discern truth from falsehood, you have to have something to discern. If you stay in the questioning mode with every bit of information that comes in, continually asking, “Is this right? What about that?”, you’ll never trust any of it to move forward. And it’s by trying it out that you come to know if it’s true. You’ll know if it true or not by the effect it has on your heart. If your heart expands, feels at peace or more relaxed, then the guidance is good. If your heart feels tight, painful, or closed, then the guidance was not from the voice of God. But it’s still good because you’ve learned something. And you can apply what you’ve learned the next time you’re looking for guidance. Continually tweaking your senses to each of the voices.
To complicate this process just a little bit more, when you ask for guidance you may not get a clear yes or no about some options. Just like in the rest of your life, answers can be in the gray zone, and aren’t always black or white. One of the great Sufi teachers on this path, ash-Shadhduli taught that there are four degrees of light and dark as they manifest on the heart. These four degrees are:
- Commendable: when you feel light expand and spread across your heart. You get a very clear indication as to what is the best choice.
- Permissible: your heart will still expand, but maybe with not as much light or as much clarity.
- Warning: you sense something is off, not quite right. Best to avoid this option.
- Detested or forbidden: The darkness is definitely present. A clear no with a resounding bell.
Personally, I get guidance on a 1-10 scale when I ask yes or no questions. 1 is a clear no, 10 a clear yes, and 2-9 show me which choices are better or worse.
The following is based on a teaching given by Ibrahim Jaffe in 2001. Wadude Laird made some revisions for school purposes in 2002.
Learning to Hear the Voice of God
The Many Voices in our Being
This is perhaps on of the most essential teachings that I can offer: learning how to understand, hear, and differentiate the voice of Allah from all the other voices that are inside. Within all people there are many voices that are speaking. There is the voice of the body itself that speaks subtly through its needs. There are voices of the personality speaking to us in many different ways. Many of these voices are parental voices. Others are the voices of siblings, family members, teachers, and religious leaders. These voices are incorporated into our mind; they compete for our attention and shape our consciousness. There also are voices of the darkness and the fire. Most importantly, there are the voices of our soul and God. In our work, we want to be able to transcend all other realities and learn to draw our information and our guidance directly from the voice of Allah.
The Many Ways to Experience God’s “Voice”
Now when I say that we hear the voice of Allah, this is not necessarily experienced as a voice. It can be more of a knowing, or a set of pictures that come to us as a clear understanding. Sometimes the voice is heard as music or a song, a tone, or a sound that dances within us as the Divine language and speaks to us of all its secret and hidden knowing. Sometimes it is felt kinesthetically in the body as a sensation(s). Listening to the voice of Allah, and learning to discern this voice from all other voices is an essential part of the teaching of this school. (University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism)
Step #1: Identify the Voice of God as you experience it.
The first step in learning to differentiate the voice of Allah from all other voices is to identify the voice of God carefully. The simplest way to do this is by remembering the Name and sensing the light that emanates from the Name. So, if I say the word “Allah,” as I say “Allah” there will be a feeling that comes over me. If you go into this feeling, you will discover that actually it is light and consciousness. It is very subtle. It emanates from the Divine Essence and the higher worlds. It reaches us through the Name, which acts as a portal or doorway to bring through the Essence. When Allah “speaks” to us through the Name, He often speaks to us in metaphor, riddle, in poetry, in beauty. The voice of Allah does not come in left brain reality, but comes rather as a dancing knowledge of all that is. We must learn to hear what this voice is saying, and to understand how this voice speaks. The voice of Allah does not speak in human language; it speaks in the divine spiritual language, which is metaphorical and full of beauty and understanding. We must turn the ears of our heart, as well as the ears of our head, to this light that emanates from the Divine Name. We must begin to listen to the light and its song. We must discern with our hearts the quality and content of what Allah says to us moment by moment.
Exercise #1: Deepening your communion with the Name
The first exercise that I recommend is to remember the Name for ten minutes daily. Repeat the name again and again until a strong feeling of connectedness and oneness with the Name exists. Once you are deeply connected to the Name, turn the ears of your heart, the listening quality of the heart, to the Name. As you turn the ears of your heart to the Name, you may feel ecstasy. You may feel immense beauty. You may feel intense love. You may feel a deepening of wisdom and knowledge within yourself. Notice and earmark what you do feel. What you feel IS the voice of God for you in this moment. It may be subtle, especially in the beginning. It’s important for you to honor what you feel, to honor how you experience the Name. Discharge or ignore any voices which cast doubt or undercut confidence in your ability to discern God’s voice. Remember, the “voice” of God is perceived through your heart, not your mind. It is not perceived through focused effort. Rather, it is perceived through feeling, relaxing, and receiving. Allow the ears of your heart to open to receive the Divine love that flows from the Name. Listen to its quality and to its message and what the voice says or wants from you. Also, turn the ears of your head to the Name and listen deeply with your ears. Connect them to your heart to that our heart and your ears operate together as one. You can hear deep inner meanings, deep inner truths, and the deep inner beauty that God wishes to give you as you learn to listen to His divine message.
Step #2: Discerning the voices that are NOT from God
The second step of learning to hear the Divine voice and the Divine Name is to know what is not the Divine Name.This requires increasing our awareness, so that we become aware of the voices that we listen to within ourselves. If you take time to sit silently, perhaps fifteen minutes each day, you’ll notice a multitude of voices inside your head, as well as feelings in your heart and physical sensations in your body. All of these have voices. Begin the process of identifying and understanding all these voices. Learn to hear them; learnt he truth of them. As you listen to these voices, you will begin to know that some are voices of control that run the show. There are also more hidden voices,more subtle, that are part of the self that seem to take a backseat. Often, even more hidden, are the voices that whisper to us from the darkness, voices that try to catch us in subtle ways. These voices often cause doubt, distrust and confusion. Whenever you find yourself caught in any of these states, look carefully to determine if shaytan energies are the source. Often you will be resonating with “mass consciousness” issues, fed by the fire, that are moving through your family, work, community, country, or the world at large.
Other voices come from the angels and guides that are trying to help us move forward in our life. Take time to listen to all these voices so that you can understand each one. Remember, you want to be able to identify and distinguish amongst the following voices: voice of God, voices of guides and angels, strong voices of the self, hidden voices of the self, and voices of the darkness and the fire. It can be helpful to label the voices of the self as you identify them. Some of the most common types include: the critic or judger, the perfectionist, the lover, the child, the protector, the controller, the seducer/pleaser, etc. As you begin to identify and label your voices, you will notice how they speak to you and how they operate in your life. Some voices will be more hidden. These voices may desire things of us; they may want things from us. It’s important to label these hidden voices as well. You can say, “This is the voice of the fire.” “This is the voice of control, power, or domination.” You will also notice that there are voices of goodness that are constantly helping you, supporting you,seeking to help you receive good things in life, to do all the good things that are waiting for you. Notice these voices as well.
Exercise #2: Identify the voices in your field
Just as has already been described, sit for 15 minutes and record all the voices you hear. It is often most effective to choose a particular issue you want to work on. Common issues to work on include: your relationship (with God, your guide, spouse, children), needs (for love, power, money, control), self identity (physical looks, worthiness, ability to receive, health, concerns), etc. As you hear the voices, write them down. Pay attention to voices that are strong or insistent. For any voice it’s best to work with it until you get to the “bottom line” voice that is often underneath the first voice you heard. One thing you an do that may help you is to label and map the location of these voices. You’ll begin to notice where these voices are speaking to you. Notice what they are saying, the qualities of their message, and what they seek from you.
As you hear and map these voices, give them a color and a name. (To do this you might ask while in remembrance: “If this voice had a color, what would it be?”) As you identify each voice with its color you may notice some patterns. Lighter colors, pastel colors, generally are related to the soul and the spirit guides. The regular colors are more often the ego, self, or nafs. The darker colors are from the lower self or the lower ego. The darkest colors (and dark red) are generally from the shaytan and those forces that wish to disturb us from our path. Know that the voices that come from the nafs (personality), that come from the desires of the self, ultimately need to be overcome and changed into the voice of God. The easiest way to do that is to bring these voices to God and, through the remembrance of the holy Name, to discharge these voices, and to change them into the Holy Oneness of God’s holy voice. Concerning the darker voices, the name of Allah will protect you. As you remember the Name, the Name will discharge these voices and they will move away from you so that you do not hear them. You will notice that they don’t have the same effect on you that they had before.
As you sit with a particular voice of the nafs or of the fire, ask yourself the following questions: “What effect does listening to this voice have on my heart?” “How has listening to this voice played out in my life?” “What have been the consequences?” ” What will likely happen in the future if I continue to listen to this voice?” When you ask questions like these, it’s important to ask from your heart, not your mind. Equally important is to ask God to give you the answers. Be as neutral and centered as possible. It’s best to be in constant remembrance as you do this process. Allow God to drop the answers into your awareness. Most of the time you will be somewhat shocked to realize what effect these voices have on your heart, your life, and your future. Looking squarely at these consequences can help motivate you to look for a better way! That “better way” is to discern and follow the way that God opens for you.
Step 3: Commit to follow the voice of God
The angelic voices will become stronger and support you and sing with you as you begin to remember the Name. Ultimately you will hear only the Name, only the voice of God. You will listen to no other voice. You will no longer be bothered by other voices. The voice of God will become the overriding guide, healer, helper, father and mother, sustainer and provider of all aspects of your life. Take time each day to listen deeply to the voices within you. Begin to learn, to know the voice of God, and commit yourself fully and only to the voice of God. Listen to no other voice but the voice of God.
Exercise #3: Return the voice of God
Choose one voice that you’ve identified, labeled with a name, and given a color as described previously. Begin to dialogue with it so that you deepen your understanding of what it is and what it desires. Once you know why the voice is there and what it wants, then begin to do the remembrance into the voice. Stay with it until the voice itself turns white. The voice will change and begin to speak in the holy language of love and return to the deep knowingness and oneness of God. Once this shift happens, notice what has changed in your field at the point where the voice was located. Notice the change in color. Notice how the voice now supports you and gives to you. Notice what it brings to you now compared to what was occurring before.