“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psalms) This beautiful prayer sets the tone for true communication.
Too often we are preoccupied with what others may be thinking to the exclusion of being aware of what we ourselves are thinking. Not good! First, we can only assume to know what another is thinking, and second, we have no jurisdiction in another’s mental realm, whereas we have God-given jurisdiction in our own.
Presuming what another is thinking is tantamount to judging. Jesus warned: “Judge not the ye be not judged… why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
If I decide that another believes I am in the wrong, I am setting the battle in array, manacling myself and the other. However, if I hold in thought that the other is governed by God, as I am, I am loving my neighbor as myself. This will serve to diffuse the tension and do far more good than rehearsing a negative assumption.
The Science of Christ explains: “The only intercommunication is from God to His idea, man.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures) God, Mind, is All-knowing, therefore needs no input. Man, however, lives for His input, guidance, love. And we are mistaken if we assume we communicate with each other apart from the one Mind, the All-knowing. What passes for communication is very often a form of hypnotism and leaves the listener in the shallows, not reaching the understanding and heart.
The Bible contains many examples of “Having ears ye hear not”, such as the upbraiding in St Paul’s Epistles which indicate the listeners often had a very superficial grasp of what they had been initially taught. I think it is safe to say that only those who received the teaching in the heart, through a spiritual sense, rather than from a personality, really got it.
In conclusion, what we ourselves are thinking, “the meditation of my heart,” sets the stage for our communication efforts, whether gorging in our personality and what we espouse, or whether dwelling in the Spirit which is “acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer”.