Persistent ringing in ears—silenced!

a testimony from Laura....

Several years ago, I had an annoying ringing in one of my ears. It went on for months. It was especially bad when I was trying to read or pray, or when I was trying to sleep. At those times, the ringing would swell to enormous proportions, and would become all that I could think about. It was ruining my sleep and my disposition.

I had to do something. I thought about going to have it checked out by an ear specialist. But from what I’d read about this condition (which sounded like tinnitus), I thought they’d most likely tell me I would just have to live with it. I was also afraid I might find out that I was going deaf, and I really didn’t want to hear that! I wanted it to stop, period. It looked to me like I had a choice. I could be the victim of this thing, or I could retaliate.

I opted to fight it on my own for a while. I started by firmly refusing to accept the ringing as permanent. Every time I heard that annoying ringing, I told it off. This meant that each night, as I was trying to sleep, instead of imagining how I would live unable to hear, I used my sleeplessness as an opportunity to listen to God and what He was telling me. I knew that God loved me and was there with me. To me, God is all-Love, all peace, all assurance and harmony. I knew that harmony was with me. The discordant sound I was hearing was merely physical—it didn't have any spiritual origin. But God is also Spirit, so my own origin is spiritual. I was comforted by my eternal connection to God.

I did lots of studying during this period of several months with passages about hearing and ears, indeed all the senses, in Science and Health. I learned from this study that the physical senses are not the last word on me. They are symbols of spiritual sense. That spiritual sense is intact no matter what my physical hearing was telling me. And I have the spiritual sense that allows me to hear God. And this is all that I can hear, since He is all. I prayed deeply with these concepts, and my fear began to decrease. This frame of mind strengthened me, and, I think, readied me for the understanding I needed to solve the problem.

One night I had a dream. I was listening to a plaintive and moody song—“Knights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues, in fact. Although I love that song, in the dream, I said to myself, “I don’t want to hear this song right now. I want something happier.” And I began thinking about a hymn I knew. A few moments later (in the dream), I again heard a sad, moody song—this time something by Pat Benatar. And again, I mentally changed the song to something I was more in the mood for.

When I awoke, I remembered all this clearly. And then it struck me. I had been hearing in my dream, and I had changed what I was hearing by my own choice. Also, in the dream, my hearing was completely unrelated to my physical ears. If I could hear in the dream without my ears, what did that imply about hearing in my waking life?

In that moment, I understood so solidly that what I hear is not a physical function at all. My ears, physical as they are, are a symbol of hearing, but they aren’t the capacity itself. Since I have an essentially spiritual nature, given to me by God, Spirit, then I have a natural and constant capacity to hear anything He wants me to hear.

Wow! This new line of thought got rid of the fear once and for all. From then on, every time the ringing came, I clobbered it with that truth. And then I would rejoice in whatever other spiritual truth I had recently been contemplating, "hearing" in an entirely spiritual way. Invariably, the annoying sound would subside. Eventually it tried one last trick—it switched ears! But all I did was laugh.

Within a few months, the condition was no longer bothering me. And some time later, I realized I hadn’t heard it, even in my quietest moments, for a long time. Today, several years later, my hearing is as good as ever.

“Sound is a mental impression made on mortal belief. The ear does not really hear. Divine Science reveals sound as communicated through the senses of Soul—through spiritual understanding.” (Science and Health, 213:16)

Del.icio.us tags:

• HealingStories
• Treatment
• Prayer

Life of Pi

I'm reading this really excellent book called Life of Pi. So I might be dropping in excepts as they strike me. Here's one:

I knew a woman here in Toronto who is very dear to my heart. She was my foster mother. I call her Auntieji and she likes that. She is Quebecoise. Though she has lived inToronto for over thirty years, her French-speaking mind still slips on occasion on the understanding of English sounds. And so, when she first heard of Hare Krishnas, she didn't hear right. She heard "Hairless Christians", and that is what they were to her for many years. When I corrected her, I told her that was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims.

I like that. I've often thought that there's more unity in what we all believe than discord, and I love to find those commonalities when I speak to a new friend.
.

Del.icio.us tags:

• Books
• LifeofPi

We are Eternal

A concept that meant a lot to me this week is the idea of being eternal. I love that word. When I dwell on it, it seems to expand and encompass everything. It's the Now that continues to always be Now. I love the spiritual fact that there is only Now, and there is no past, present or future. Time, as Science and Health tells us, is a mortal measurement, and this means to me that it has no reality. We are not actually marching through time, but are one with eternity.

And that which is eternal is unchanging. So I am unchanging. I am, right now, the complete expression of God, full, perfect. Sometimes I wonder, can I claim this for myself? Is it too much to believe? But then I remember that God is All, and the only way to really worship Him is to admit that all of His creation is as He is, perfect. And that includes me, a permanent part of eternity.

Del.icio.us tags:

• Inspiration
• WorkingWithWords

New Website!

Well, I've done a little Internet adventuring here, and have created my own Website. Would love to know your thoughts!

LBMatthews.com

Welcome

This is a new blog to share ideas and inspiration!