This teaching was originally posted 14 years ago. Meditation, Jack Kornfield says, is the art of inner listening. To show what that can mean, he tells a story. In a certain East African village, a child's birthday is not counted from birth, nor even from conception, but from the day the child was first a thought in its mother's mind. When a woman knows she would like a child with a particular partner, she sits under a tree until she can hear, in her heart, the song of the child who wants to be born. She teaches it to her partner, and they sing it as they come together. She sings it to the child in the womb, and to the midwives, so the first sound the newborn hears is everyone singing its own song. The village learns it too. When the child falls, someone picks her up and sings it back to her. It is sung at her rites of passage, at her wedding, and one last time at the end of her life as the villagers gather to say goodbye. Hearing this stirred a longing in Jack to live somewhere we heard one another's songs. Meditation, he suggests, is how we begin to hear the song within ourselves, and how we become able to listen for it in everyone else. He also draws a useful distinction. Practices with a single focus, a candle, an image, a repeated mantra, do quiet the mind beautifully, but you leave the world behind, and when the prayer ends you step out of the cave into the supermarket and the traffic and life is complicated again. The other kind of meditation uses the process of life itself: the breath and body, the sounds, the feelings, the heart and mind, all the stuff of an ordinary day. Want to go deeper with Jack Kornfield? Join Sounds True One for more teachings like this. Get your first month FREE at https://bit.ly/4ctecMn Subscribe to Sounds True's YouTube Channel ► https://bit.ly/SubscribeSTYT Sounds True is a mission-driven learning and media company, and a recognized leader in wellbeing, personal growth, and spiritual transformation. Partnering with the world’s foremost wisdom teachers and best-selling authors, the company reaches millions worldwide with its unique programs, digital learning experiences, and worldwide events. The company also features a variety of original series, weekly shows, and live online experiences on Sounds True One, its global platform and community with members across more than 125 countries. Sounds True is a Public Benefit Corporation and also the home of the Sounds True Foundation. Connect with us: ▪️Facebook: http://bit.ly/2XFIIeE ▪️Instagram: http://bit.ly/2UlEoiH ▪️Website: http://bit.ly/2tOl02d