Imagine Benedict in his cell – a fresh parchment on his desk…wondering how he will begin this ‘little rule for beginners’.

The tone of the Rule would be set by the first word.

He caught it…a Latin word…ausculta…listen. ‘Listen carefully…to my instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart’.

By chapter five it is a vow – obedience – from the Latin word ob-audire, to listen. Pay attention, be mindful – listen to the voice of the Spirit, listen to the Abbot, listen to one another and especially to the youngest, ‘for God often reveals what is best to the youngest.’

Good governance requires good listening.

Why ‘ausculta’?

Listening is at the heart of the Christian life. Monks are primarily listeners.

They listen to another who is wiser – the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. We listen because we don’t know where we are going…listen and follow someone who does know.

We listen because the ‘still small voice’ can be missed and life too. It is a risk – the incredible risk of faith.

Intention set

Benedict wants his monks to begin each day singing: ‘Oh that today you would listen to his voice harden not your hearts’ (Ps 94) – he wants a ‘listening intent’ set and well before the chatter of the day breaks in.

Listening not just with our ears but ‘with the ear of the heart’. Bodily listening.

Ministry of listening

I was 30 before I knew true listening. I was studying in the US and in pain. I found a therapist. It took me six weeks to ask for help.

We met. He sat in front of me – his posture receiving, his face warm, his words reflecting what I said… a space created for me…I walked in and took the first tiny step towards healing.

Here was the ministry of listening in action – the provision of a safe space for another, a space for the heart to enlarge with love.

The word therapy, from the Greek, means ‘to listen’, ‘to pay very close attention’ – therapists are trained in the skill of listening.

Why is listening scarce?

We think of listening as something natural – we don’t have ‘ear lids’, as Marshall McLuhan pointed out; our ears are ‘on’ 24/7. Hearing happens. It is passive, automatic…but listening is active, requiring our participation and our attention.

We also have a built-in bias towards the visual – vision takes up to a third of the brain’s volume and about two-thirds of its processing capacity. Hearing gets a meagre 2%.

Without training and commitment, listening has little chance of commanding our attention.

And lastly… listening requires humility.

Jung suggested that, ‘modern human beings don’t see God (and we might add hear God) because they don’t look low enough?’

Listening, I bend low, I put my preoccupations aside, and open a space to the ‘other.’…a spiritual act, a humble act rather than an acoustical capacity.

• Simon Sleeman is a Benedictine Monk of Glenstal Abbey in Ireland. He holds degrees in Psychology, Theology and Organisational Development. He has worked in administration as headmaster and bursar. He taught biology for many years. He tends the bees at the monastery and is passionately interested in learning to live wisely in our turbulent world.