Short Story: Zen koan: The voice within
@innertalks (21916)
Australia
April 29, 2023 2:54am CST
The Zen master, Rostov Kerboski, wanted his students to be able to recognise the voice within themselves, so he gave them this koan:
"What is the voice within us, if there is one?"
One student replied like this:
"This voice is none other than the voice of everlasting oneness, or God. It speaks all in all, and is forever just itself, be nothing else but the voice of God, as it bes you."
The master smiled, his widest of smiles, and replied:
"Well said."
"Just be sure that that voice is coming to you via your heart, and not from your mind, where a similar voice speaks to you, but always negatively so."
"To know oneself, is to be that inner voice, be God, as much as you can, by living from your soul, and not from your mind alone."
"Get to know the sound of your real inner voice."
"It is your own unique sound within God's choir. It is your essence within God. This inner voice is one embodied by the energy of love."
'"There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self."'
William James, an American Philosopher, (1842 to 1910 ) said this.
"This is so, because when we have faith in our true self, we also have faith within God. Our soul, or true self, is connected vitally so to God."
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
9 people like this
7 responses
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
30 Apr 23
That's ok. It is the type of story that l line to write, and share.
4 people like this
@Jenaisle (14078)
• Philippines
29 Apr 23
I like what you said about connecting to your true self means connecting with God because the inner voice within us is God's. That's an enlightening thought.
I also like this passage: '"There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self."' This means also a lack of faith in God,
I remember one verse in the Holy Bible that says:
"For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20-21).
Faith indeed can be the driving force that could prod us to believe and do what we want to do. 
3 people like this
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
29 Apr 23
Yes, there are a lot of good verses about faith in the Bible.
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
is from Romans, chapter 10, verse 17.
Which seems to agree with what I said, about the word of Christ, being within us to hear it, through the means of our true self, or soul self.
@Jenaisle (14078)
• Philippines
29 Apr 23
@innertalks The deeper self, the soul is our innermost self. Thanks.
3 people like this
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
29 Apr 23
@Jenaisle Yes, there is nothing deeper in us than our soul, I think, and our soul connects us to God, via itself.
@cacay1 (83495)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
1 May 23
@innertalks that's right and without God we're nothing.
3 people like this
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
1 May 23
Yes, to live from the highest wisdom, we need to connect ourselves to God, and to his wisdom too.
@Shiva49 (26684)
• Singapore
29 Apr 23
Self-doubt is the cause of our downfall.
We need to step up in our connectivity to God through our souls and maintain it and not give in to drop calls!
This Zen Master looks worth his weight in gold but then we need to eschew worldly attachments to gain that perfect connection with our creator.
3 people like this
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
30 Apr 23
Yes, the old guy looks the part all right.
Yes, we must continually move ourselves closer to God, and not away from him, by embracing his goodness, and love as it is slotted into us too, via our heart, soul, mind, and body, which can all play their part for God, in our lives.
@Shiva49 (26684)
• Singapore
30 Apr 23
@innertalks It should become a habit.
As I have mentioned before, at one place the CEO thought I was faking it by telling me "You pretend to be a gentleman". That brought out his inner feelings and set me to leave that company for good. The thread of understanding was broken.
That approach gives us the confidence to face any eventuality as God is on board with our unflinching trust and faith in him.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
1 May 23
@Shiva49 Yes, if we have good habits, we will tend not to do the wrong thing, as we value our approach, because of our intrinsic trust and faith in our right-livingness, coated in the love of God too.
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
30 May 23
I more lack ability than confidence, as I know there are things that I cannot do.
Another cause of human failure is lack of faith in the greater self, or God, too, I would say.
If we follow our true self, though, we are probably staying in connection with God then too, though.
@Greencindere (669)
•
17 May 23
I am going to use some of the quotes from here when explaining to people why my husband and I are no-church Christians....thank you
1 person likes this
