Listening & Silence - Skills of discernment
In her eight-page booklet, 'The skills of discernment', Dr Charis Waddy (above), an academic and author on the Muslim world, also writes about the importance of silence and listening, which you can read here. ‘We have looked at the skills of discernment in terms of listening, of conscience and of purpose,’ she writes.
"There is another ingredient to be added if training is to be effective. Discipline. The world accepts rigorous training for sport, for music, and for certain professional skills. It shies away from a similar discipline in other fields. Yet every one of the great traditions of faith calls for discipline…. Prayer is one such discipline. I have stayed in many homes in various countries where the parents are regularly up before dawn for the first prayer of the day: Christian, Muslim and Hindu alike."