Compassionate Listening: Breathing Through the Heart

(article on Spiritual Directors International -SDI World Blog)

By Lynn W. Huber

For many years, I have been clear that contemplation and action are partnered. My first models were Friends (Quakers), who seemed to have found a way to structure a dual focus of contemplation and action into both their personal and their corporate lives in a way that, at least from my experience, is unique.

I am a social worker and a spiritual director. I am a Reform Jew by birth, an Episcopalian by adoption in my young adult years, and a student of many other traditions ranging from Hindu to Buddhist to Quaker to Catholic. (I am also an Oblate—a vowed associate of a Roman Catholic Benedictine community.)

In the last few years, I have become more and more aware of the horrendous conflicts and intractability of same in the Holy Land. I recently had the opportunity to return to Palestine and Israel on a trip led by the Compassionate Listening Project. Several things drew me in: Quaker and Jewish roots, my profound desire to listen in a deeply non-judgmental way, and my interest in the mosaic of Palestine and Israel.

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http://www.sdiworld.org/blog/compassionate-listening-breathing-through-heart