'Beware of the noises'

"God's breath is heard in quietness and felt in stillness. Beware the noises and clamor of ego which drown out the divine whisper."

— Messages From The Ancestor's Wisdom For the Way by Maryellen Flynn Kelley

What a great word to ponder in this season of new birth that is upon us and as many of us observe Holy Week while listening to the political clamor all around us. A few days ago I allowed myself to get pulled into an unproductive discussion about the political situation in our country. I had done a very good job of managing to stay focused and not allowing my sense of peace and balance to be disrupted by the loud noise of current politics until that day.

After the conversation was finished and I went on my way, I was deeply aggravated with myself.

My aggravation came mostly from realizing how much good energy I had let go down the drain in those few moments along with the time and energy I had to spend getting myself back to a more peaceful place.

Unfortunately, in this time of violence and hate speech, it is difficult for us to imagine peace. It is certainly hard to believe that one can live in peace, instead of focusing upon what the culture provides; so many messages about how to dull our senses and take our minds off of our pain.

All of us know that voice very well that calls us to more shopping, more eating, more sex, more traveling, more television in an effort to quell our pain and to ease our fears about living in a world that seems to be completely out of control. And along with this, we are adding the notion that more guns will finally bring us the peace and sense of well-being that has not been available to us before. So in Georgia we have gone so far as to tell young college students that they can carry guns to school.

The politics of fear has driven many among us over the edge of reason and led some to be willing to listen to loud mouth proclamations about the best way to make our country safe and peaceful. But we need to be aware that God's voice is heard in the quietness and stillness and that it is much more likely that answers to the problems we face will come from that quiet voice than from the noise that drowns out reason, compassion and hope.

My greatest commitment during this season of political campaigning and the upcoming election is to remain peaceful. In this climate of rage-filled speeches, political violence that promises to escalate instead of being quelled, the ravages of war, the promise of executions, and all of the reasons one can imagine to be without hope, I can bring the gift of peace if I am willing to keep my wits about me.

Six years ago I decided to remove television from my life. This has helped me tremendously because I was somewhat of an addict to the news cycle, a few talk shows and several other favorites that I allowed to have too much of my mind. At this time I am on a very rigid diet of small amounts of news, no talk shows and I no longer have any favorite shows. Because of the powerful influence that news reporting has on those of us who read and listen, it is crucial that it does not assist in the promotion of fear. But when it does, the individual consumer has to seek ways to minimize its negative impact.

The time that we are living in at the moment seems to be yelling for us to turn toward inner healing and peace in order to hear the quiet call to a path of healing for ourselves and our land.

This column by Catherine Meeks, Ph.D., appears twice monthly. Meeks is also a contributing writer for the Huffington Post. Email her at kayma53@att.net.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "'Beware of the noises' ."