Comments on: Ears

By: New Cool Thang » What do you know?

New Cool Thang » What do you know? — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 00:51:36 +0000

[...] lking to them and others can’t hear it. To answer that I recommend you check out my recent post called Ears. The post points out that some people can hear and discern things in music that are comple [...]

By: Geoff Johnston

Geoff Johnston — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 00:54:34 +0000

Good point Blake. This experiment does have interesting implication on responsibility (related to free choice). Some people can hear the musical dissonance and some people can’t — so it is with promptings. I imagine those who can’t hear promptings must be judged by different criteria than those who can are. The parable of the talents certainly applies to this.

My guess it that those who can’t hear them naturally are partially judged by how hard they work and practice at hearing them. If they don’t put enough effort in to improving their spiritual ears they are guilty of that sin of omission. Of course all but the tone deaf can hear the most strident examples (both musically and spiritually), but discerning more subtle things is the goal for us all (spiritually).

On the other hand, those with naturally good spiritual ears would be judged on how well they obey the messages they are receiving. For them, acting against the promptings they are getting are sins of commission.

By: Blake

Blake — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 00:02:42 +0000

Wow, I heard the difference and I even turned off the second version before it was over because I couldn’t stand it — and I’m no musician. I could hear a dissonance that drove me crazy. Maybe singing for years in a non-professional choir does that to me?

I see that the difference in the ability to hear the spirit is a matter of openness of heart; and willingness to open the heart is a function of many things like predispositions, upbringing, experiences — but in the end it is a power that we have and a free choice. (What else would you expect me to say?)

By: Geoff Johnston

Geoff Johnston — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 23:50:40 +0000

Cool, I’ll catch up on those posts Clark.

By: Clark

Clark — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 22:11:36 +0000

I tend to think that there is at least a significant physical component. I discussed this in my various posts over at the Bloggernacle Times.

By: Geoff Johnston

Geoff Johnston — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 20:55:42 +0000

Thanks amigos.

3 Nep. 11 is good example, thanks for bringing that chapter up. The interesting parallel is that the information is there to be heard in both the music and spiritual communications cases, it just requires discerning “ears to hear”. I think it is interesting as well that we often think that Christ’s sheep include all mankind but the scriptures make it clear that this in not true — his sheep are exclusively those that hear his voice.

As to whether the natural ability to hear spiritual messages is genetic (meaning having to with our physical bodies) or simply a spiritual trait we brouht with us based on pre-mortal skill development is not clear to me. I sort of suspect it is the latter, though. Clark, do you think this spiritual listening skills is somehow related to our physical bodies?

By: Clarkl

Clarkl — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 18:30:29 +0000

Very interesting comparison. I tend to agree, further I personally suspect that our ability to discern and recognize the spirit has a partial genetic component. However regardless of the genetics, any such potential ability requires practice to develop and utilize.

By: Steve Evans

Steve Evans — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 15:22:14 +0000

Hey man, thanks for the KB shout-out! Remind me to get you onboard as a KB contributor on jazz — email me if you’re interested.

Like Justin, I also thought of 3rd Nephi 11, because of how people needed to open their ears: are they attenuating their ears to hear God? That suggests that they normally would not have heard Him.

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 14:03:06 +0000

Very interesting post! I am also reminded of incidents recorded in Helaman 5 and 3 Nephi 11 regarding hearing God’s voice.

I didn’t notice anything wrong with either version. As an aside, I remember reading a newspaper article about a year ago on the positives and negatives of having perfect pitch. The musician featured in the story experiences unpleasant physical reactions–her ears would hurt or she would develop a headache–in response to off-key tones or music. And she notices these things all the time–she can’t stand to dial her cell phone, for example. It’s a definite plus when she works as a vocal coach or piano teacher.