We all have within us an Inner Guide – a small, gentle voice that represents the deeper knowledge and wisdom at our core.  This internal teacher often has many names.  Some call it Spirit, Soul or the Higher Self.  Others may refer to it in the form of Angels or Guides.  A Course in Miracles calls this inner voice the Holy Spirit.  The many words or terms we name it by do not matter.  They all point to the same thing.  They all point to that loving and wise voice within that, if we are willing to listen, takes us by the hand and gently leads us back to Ourself.

As students of A Course in Miracles, our aim is to learn to strengthen our connection to the Holy Spirit, enabling us to more clearly and consistently connect with and receive His wisdom and guidance.  For some people this communication may come quite naturally.  Yet for others it can seem like a hard and difficult process where they can be left feeling both incapable and undeserving of such a holy connection.  No matter which of these categories you find yourself falling into, the truth is that everyone is capable of hearing the Holy Spirit.  He is equally available to us all.

There can be questions, especially when first starting out with the Course, around what the experience of hearing the Holy Spirit’s Voice is supposed to be like.  “Should I be hearing an actual voice?  And does this voice come from outside me, or is it just in my mind?”   In this respect, the use of the word ‘voice’ can be somewhat misleading.  When the Course talks about the Voice of the Holy Spirit, many assume it is referring to a literal voice.  Although some people have reported having such an experience, for most this is not the case.  For the vast majority of us, it is much more subtle.

Perhaps a more helpful way to think about it would be in terms of communication. Everyone is aware that communication comes in a great many forms and is not limited to the voice and words alone.  This is also true of communication from and with the Holy Spirit.  He speaks to us in many ways, sometimes how we least expect.

It’s also important to be aware that how this communication shows up can be different for everyone.  While some of us may have similar experiences of what we consider to be the Holy Spirit’s Voice, others may have completely different ones entirely.  There is no right or wrong way – just the way that works best for you.  This is why it is pointless to compare your experience to that of others.  He knows best which modes of communication you are receptive to, and what works with one person will not always be compatible with another.

One way you may find Him communicating through you is via your natural talents and abilities.  While it’s true that in our reality as Spirit we are all one, in our dream state of separation we are all undeniably very different.  Therefore, the gifts and traits we display in our lives are often unique and individual to each of us.  The Holy Spirit knows how to use these seeming differences to facilitate communication that is specifically suited for each person.  He takes the differences the ego has made, using them for His own purposes of speaking to us.

For example, you could be someone who is strongly in touch with your feelings.  You may find that you are able to tune in to the people and environments around you, or that you pick up on and sense things viscerally as strong feelings within your body.  In this case it is likely that the Holy Spirit will use this sensitivity as a means of facilitating communication with you, perhaps through your intuition and gut feelings. 

Or maybe you are a person who is very visual.  You might have a great imagination and be skilled at working with images in your mind.  As this is an area in which you are likely to be quite receptive you may find the Holy Spirit speaking to you through pictures and symbols, both in your waking and sleeping states.

Yet another person may be more attuned to their hearing senses.  They may find themselves being drawn to specific conversations or particular lines in a song or movie, picking up on messages that resonate with them at a deeper level.  If you are having experiences such as this, then it is likely that the Holy Spirit is using your fine-tuned senses in this area to speak to you.

There are so many ways the Holy Spirit could be reaching out to you that it would be literally impossible to name them all.  But for examples sake, a few other ways could include –

-right-minded thoughts, ideas or inspirations popping into your mind, often seemingly out of nowhere and from a source other than yourself

– The world taking on a dreamlike quality where you find yourself separate from the images and merely observing from a place of non-judgement.

-An experience of being with someone and feeling a deep sense of connection, love and oneness with them.

-Moments of deep serenity and an unshakeable sense of peace. 

All these examples are ways through which the Holy Spirit may speak to you.  As you might have noticed, some of these don’t appear as messages or information, but rather show up as deep encounters, experiences, and inner states.  These are the moments where we lay our human thoughts and concepts aside and completely join with Him, giving our minds over to our natural state of Oneness and Love. This is, in the truest sense, what it really means to hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit.

For the most part, our experiences of the Holy Spirit are quiet, intimate, and deeply personal.  They don’t come as grand outer events, and there is often no sign in the world that they have even occurred at all.  You see, this communication is not something that happens on the outside.  It is an inside job.  Yes, sometimes seemingly outside forms such as words from a movie or an image in the world may seem to facilitate communication, but it is always within you that the Holy Spirit is heard, felt and joined with.  It is always on the inside that we experience the effects of hearing His voice.

And this brings me to the one guaranteed way you can strengthen your ability to hear the Holy Spirit, however it is He may show up to you.  And that is through the daily practicing of the Course.  It is through practicing and implementing the Course’s principles that you begin to retrain your mind to think along the lines of the Holy Spirit’s thought system.  And the more you think like Him, the more you will be able to hear Him. 

The Holy Spirit cannot come to you without your invitation.  You have to be willing to let Him in.  As you bring your mind into alignment with His, and experience the joyful effects of this right-minded thinking, your willingness to hear His voice grows, and you become more open to receiving this communication.  We often think we have great willingness, yet on an unconscious level this isn’t always the case.  This is because deep within us there is a tremendous amount of fear.

Now, you may think “I’m not fearful of the Holy Spirit.  I want to hear His Voice.  I want to receive His guidance”.   This fear is often not apparent to you on a conscious level. It is within the deep recesses of your mind, and it is perhaps the biggest block there is to hearing Him.   It’s not really His Voice that you fear, but rather the consequences it will have for you if you listen.  For if you hear and accept His Voice as your own it will mean that the Course is right.  It will mean that the ‘you’ who you thought was living in this world is not the real you at all.  And this is an utterly terrifying thought.

If we are to connect with the Holy Spirit in any consistent and continual way, we must work at lessening, and eventually removing, this fear in our mind.  The only way to do this is to bring it to our conscious awareness so we may look directly at it.  It is only by looking at it that we can then choose to let it go.  If we are working with the Course, if we are practicing it consistently day in and day out, we are doing just this.  We are exposing the ego’s false fears and giving them over to the Holy Spirit’s correction.  As we do this, our lines of communication are gently reopened, and our willingness and ability to hear the Holy Spirit naturally strengthens.  We let go of our defences, we drop our barriers, and we let Him in.

The Course tells us:

The limits the world places on communication are the chief barriers to direct experience of the Holy Spirit, Whose Presence is always there and Whose Voice is available but for the hearing.  These limits are placed out of fear, for without them the walls that surround all the separate places of the world would fall at the holy sound of His Voice.  Who transcends these limits in any way is merely becoming more natural.  He is doing nothing special, and there is no magic in his accomplishments (M-25.2:5-8).

Opening to the voice of the Holy Spirit is not an easy task.  It requires a lot of introspection and deep inner work.  In truth, He has been communicating with us every second of every day of our whole lives.  We have just forgotten how to listen.  It’s not a gift or ability we have to learn, but a returning to our natural state.  We merely need to remember how to step out of our own way in order to let the communication flow.  If you are doing the Course, and gradually training your mind along the lines of the Holy Spirit’s thought system, then there’s nothing in this world that will be able to stop His voice getting through to you.  And however this shows up for you is the perfect way for you to receive it.  You can trust that He always knows the best way to reach you.  Your job, is to listen.

When you are still an instant, when the world recedes from you, when valueless ideas cease to have value in your restless mind, then you will hear His Voice (W.p1.182.8:1).