VAST Institute

Hearing the Still Small Voice Within

Jonathan Van Valin • Dec 04, 2020

A moment of inner guidance can lead you in the best direction, if heard

For many of us, it was so fleeting as to be easily forgotten or simply dismissed…
but there was a moment where the mind was clear and inwardly you knew.


You’ve certainly experienced a moment of inner guidance that led you in the best direction you could possibly have gone in. Yet the power was not in how loud it shouted. In fact, it came as a gentle whisper, without fanfare. The power was in how undeniably true; how unequivocally right you knew the direction to be.  We’ve all known this experience, in some form. 

Yet when life is tumultuous, we may wish for something louder; something to cut through the bickering turmoil in our minds when the voice within can seem so lost and obscured by the noise. Why should it be so still?!? Or small?!? …we might plead, when we need to hear it now, more than ever? 


And as we all know, Truth will set you free… not control you. That still small voice doesn’t shout and demand because it doesn’t seek to control you. If it did control you, you couldn’t be free. If you didn’t have complete freedom and volition and choice, then you would be powerless, and therefore a victim, in bondage.


The inner prompt doesn’t speak for bondage; it speaks for your freedom. Thus, it will never demand a particular choice of you… it will never seek to take away your own power to choose, because you could not then be free. Truth will always set you free. Not put you in bondage. 

So, the inner voice does not seek to control you. It will remain a gentle whisper, born from its home in complete peace. 

Yet in our storm and stress we may still wish for that gentle whisper to somehow rise above the other choices we might make and proclaim itself. But to overcome you, or overcome the other choices you might make, the still small voice would have to attack; to fight or contend with these alternatives. It would have to make war, not peace. It appears incapable of such arrogance, being born from peace… and peace is always stronger than war. 


Why? Because peace heals. War tears apart.


Therefore, the still small voice will never command forces against you. It is incapable of such conceit, and will only, then, tap you gently on the shoulder, and whisper in your ear. It is compelling; not because of the way it speaks but because of what it reminds you of. It is compelling because of what it points you towards. It calls you towards peace because it is, itself, wholly and completely born of peace. One can never be led to love by force. Only by choosing it of your own freewill are you as free as Spirit. 


Information may arrive via any outer vehicle at all: a song, a book, a meme, a conversation overheard, a wagging tail; a look on someone’s face. Digital or analog. It could come from any inner form as well: a dream, an insight, a feeling, communion with inner dimensions or beings or Spirit… It doesn’t matter the form, most of which we wouldn’t describe strictly as a “voice” anyway. None is better or greater or more elevated than any other. Ultimately, regardless of the form by which it arrives, there is a movement of mind. A recognition – or a “re-cognition” - which is why it is so often described as a “knowing.” One could even say everything – inner and outer – beckons us. 

What shall we call this still small voice? This knowing? Every culture on earth, religious or secular, has had a name for it. Higher Self, Holy Spirit, Presence, Atman, Divine Mind, Angels, Guides, or simply: Intuition. Creative impulse or inner prompt. Whatever works. The name doesn’t really matter. 


And if we wish to hear this still small voice, we are best directed to our own peace. When you wonder which choice is right… look and listen carefully for the one that emanates from the deepest peace and calls you towards the deepest peace. The more we connect with our own peace, the more we tend to hear that still small voice. 


So, come! Just come! Come and quiet down. Come listen within. Come to this peace, that you may hear that still small voice and know. 

Peace… Peace be with you… 

If you would like to contact Jonathan visit www.AssistTheSpirit.com.


© Copyright 2020 Jonathan Van Valin. reprinted with permission

Additional Blog Post Suggestions

Curly Girls Guide to Belonging Lesson two Worthiness Rules
By Michelle Sherman 11 Apr, 2022
Michelle Purnell Hepburn and Michelle Sherman explore the road to self appreciation and dignity
Leading from the Empathy Edge with VAST Original Thinking guest Maria Ross
By Michelle Sherman 05 Jan, 2022
Addressing the Empathy Deficit in Business leadership takes both wisdom and proven strategies. Join Michelle as she hears Maria Ross spin on profitable ways to bridge the Empathy Deficit
May Peace Prevail on Earth...
By Website Editor 21 Dec, 2021
2021 Team Thank and VAST 2022 vision
Einstein fanfiction reveals the unified field
By micehlle sherman 05 Dec, 2021
Einstein fanfiction reveals the unified field
By Michelle Sherman 07 Nov, 2021
VAST Institute Original Thinking News shares its unique form of confidence, clarity and imagination
By 07 Sep, 2021
Refreshed from a sweet summer of playing, grounding and growing...
Join Michelle Sherman, Life and Leadership Coach to learn the gentlest path forward to wel
By Michelle Sherman 29 Aug, 2021
Tune in for an adult look at what levels of joy, sweetness and gentle abandon we are each willing to allow into our lives. Come prepared to lighten up from past burdens as you devise a pathway to welcoming the beloved.
By Michelle Sherman 28 Aug, 2021
Please join Michelle Purnell Hepburn, as she riffs with Michelle Sherman on Inclusion Related issues of substance
Music to Glow by...
By Michelle Sherman 28 Aug, 2021
The focus is life and music; the stories are profound. Jim Cohen and Michelle Sherman, two cool New York kids, who befriended music - recount how it influenced their lives. Enjoy this unscripted, and poignant dialogue about our music as a life influencer, sustainer and compass; Sound & Light regales us with stories of Jim and Michelle’s memories of music, and delves into key moments of personal growth, the sweep of time, and the power of the beat. They begin on the streets of New York in the 50’s and bring us forward to their vision for today and how music brings us all so much more than just beautiful noise. Listen NOW. Insert link MS
By 28 Aug, 2021
Seeing the beauty is an essential skill for cogent leaders
Show More
Share by: