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Proverbs 5:7 · World English Bible

Proverbs 5:7 Meaning Now Therefore

Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.

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What does Proverbs 5:7 mean?

There is a second voice in the mind, gentle and sure, that speaks for love beneath the ego's noise. To hear it a mind has only to want to, and to keep wanting when the louder voice returns.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 5:7 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

There is a second voice in the mind, gentle and sure, that speaks for love beneath the ego's noise. To hear it a mind has only to want to, and to keep wanting when the louder voice returns. Departing from these words is not disobedience punished from outside; it is simply turning back to the teacher of fear and losing, for a while, the comfort that was being offered.

Staying close to the quiet voice is the whole of the practice. A mind that keeps listening is a mind being led home.

Children: the part of the mind still open to learning, willing to be taught by love rather than fear.

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Live Proverbs 5:7 today

  1. First thing in the morning, before the feed and the inbox, sit still for two minutes and let the quieter part of you say something. It usually sounds gentler than the rest.
  2. When you are with someone today, listen for the kinder read on them that is always available alongside the critical one. Then speak from that read.
  3. In a hard moment, when the loud voice comes back with its usual verdict on you, do not argue with it. Just turn your attention toward the other one again, the way you would turn a radio dial.

Which voice in me have I been treating as the only one?

The same truth in other traditions

Hinduism · Upanishads

Two birds sit in the same tree. One eats the fruit and is tossed by every taste, the other simply watches, calm and unhurt. Both are you, and you can shift which one you listen to.

Sufism · Rumi

Keep your ear at the door of the heart. The guidance you want is not far away or loud, it is quiet and already speaking.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

There is a guide inside you. Stay with it, come back to it as often as you wander, and nothing outside has to change for you to be steady.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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