Travelers at sea take soundings to measure the depth of the water through which they move. This kind of deep listening is necessary if they are to safely navigate treacherous waters. This is what we do as well, whenever we quiet ourselves and go to that inner place where there is enough silence for the words to resound.
The skin of deeply spiritual persons
is not a dividing membrane
that separates them from the world—
but
a connecting membrane,
a permeable membrane,
through which
events of the world and
events of their inner life
flow into one another.
~ from TOWARD A GLOBAL SPIRITUALITY by Patricia Mische