Henri Nouwen on spiritual deafness

Mark Bushor, aka the insanezamboni, posts this quote from Henri Nouwen on spiritual deafness:

Developing "ears to hear" God takes time. We all have strong resistances to listening. First of all, we find it very hard to create empty spaces in our lives and to give up our occupations and preoccupations, even for a while. We suffer from a fear of the empty space. We are so concerned with being useful, effective, and in control that a useless, ineffective, and uncontrollable moments scares us and drives us right back tot he security of having something valuable to do.

But even stronger than our fear of the empty space is our fear of actually hearing the voice of God! We know that our God is a jealous God who knows there is no other cure for our restlessness and deafness but finding our home in God...

Growing in faith requires a growing attentiveness to perceive where God is active and to where we are being led. One of the key questions in overcoming spiritual deafness and blindness is: Where is God active in my life or community right now?

Source: Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen, pp. 18-19.