What Does God Sound Like?

I’ve been making notes on stories I want to share. You could call them mystical experiences—because they are—but they’re also just moments in my relationship with God. Snapshots of how that relationship has grown and changed over time.

Every time I sit down to write one of these stories, I feel the need to preface it: when I say, “God said…” it’s not like when my kid says, “Mom said…” Feel me?

I spent my early life around religious leaders who had no problem proclaiming the Word of the Lord. Frothy sermons on what God wants people to do. Dire warnings on the consequences of failing to heed commands. They’re still a dime a dozen.

I’ve never known it to be like that. God doesn’t tell me to tell others what to do. In fact, God barely even tells me what to do.

People are obsessed with commands and obedience.

I’ve never experienced that in my relationship with God. I’d love to have had a lot more explicit direction. Instead, God seems obsessed with me learning to make ever-better decisions. You can only make better decisions, if you’ve made worse ones. I’ve got lots of both.

In many ways, intimacy with God is frustratingly undirected. S/he’s like a friend who always wants to hang out together, but doesn’t have interest in doing your chores or solving your problems. Maybe a good therapist is a better example. Actually, the term “unconditional positive regard” is exactly how I’ve experienced God. Behold:

Unconditional positive regard is a term coined by humanist psychologist Carl Rogers to describe a technique used in his non-directive, client-centered therapy.

According to Rogers, unconditional positive regard involves showing complete support and acceptance of a person, no matter what that person says or does.

The therapist God accepts and supports the client me, no matter what they I say or do, placing no conditions on this acceptance. That means the therapist God supports the client me whether they are I am expressing and experiencing "good" behaviors and emotions or "bad" ones.

VeryWellMind.com

I couldn’t have written it any clearer than that ↑

Imagine the perfect therapist slash best friend slash cosmic trillionaire.

• The therapist offers unconditional positive regard, but you also know they are there to support your growth, not wallow in your miseries.

• The best friend rides permanent shotgun, is comfortable when y’all drive in silence, perks up when you want to talk, and gives a wink when things get tense.

• The cosmic trillionaire gives you confidence that someone powerful and well resourced always has your back, but they don’t bail you out when figuring out why you’re detained is the better outcome.

That’s how we roll. That’s our relationship in a nutshell.

“Prophetic Words”

On the occasions I’ve received information for someone else, it was never a command or an instruction. Usually, it's at their request because I can often act as a sort of "phone line," receiving a response to their questions. Sometimes I’ll get a message that they didn’t query me for, but they were asking silently, and the answer ends up in my inbox. They are words of comfort, clarity, confirmation—not directive.

There are a few times I've been given information in advance concerning someone else. One time I was told that someone was about to leave the leadership of an organization. I knew this person, so I emailed them to share what I’d received. It was a pretty simple message. I didn’t get a reply. Six months later, they announced they were leaving their position. I congratulated them on their new chapter, and they kindly wrote back. They said they’d disregarded my earlier message. They had zero plans to leave their role, every intention of dedicating their life to it. But, things had changed in ways they never could have imagined. My “prediction” had immediately come to mind and had given some assurance when making big decisions.

That wasn’t directive of course. But it’s an example of me receiving information for someone else, that hasn’t been requested by them.

I take the time to explain these details because saying something like, “God said…” takes guts. I share my experiences with others not to convince them that my revelations should be believed or my teachings followed, but just examples of what’s possible.

Plenty of people are eager to tell you about God, but there aren’t many who will carefully help you learn to connect directly. I want to teach, not to make personal disciples, but to help each individual identify and deepen their own connection to Love (Source, God, The Mystery—whatever you call That Which Is Fundamental To All Things).

How It Works For Me

Here are the ways I experience spiritual communication. We all have these senses, and most people use them without realizing it. Think of it like our other senses—people see, hear, or feel with varying degrees of sensitivity.

Clairaudience: Clear Hearing

Sometimes, I receive a literal, verbal message. Clairaudience, or clear hearing, is when I "hear" actual words, phrases, or short sentences. When I'm asking for a message on behalf of someone else, I often get a single word at a time. I’ll get the word, write it down, then ask a follow-up question. The answer is usually another single word. (I’ll share a story soon about the first time I "prophesied," which perfectly demonstrates how this works.)

Claircognizance: Clear Knowing

Most of the time, this is how God communicates with me. It’s not specific words, but a download of ideas or information. I just suddenly understand concepts or have knowledge I didn't have a minute ago. That's called claircognizance, or clear knowing. These "downloads" have to be translated into words if I want to explain them to anyone else. It's always easier to share what came through clairaudience because I can just repeat it. Claircognizance is a fuller, more substantial way of being communicated with, but it's also more private. It's trickier to articulate in language and capture the full expression.

There’s a weird ache in trying to translate a download. It’s like trying to turn a sunrise into a sentence. It makes me reluctant sometimes, because precious messages feel diminished in the telling.

Like any intimate relationship, some things can be shared with others, some can’t. You might gush about your new flame to another close friend. But there’s a line between sharing delightful details, and divulging what should only be between lovers.

I also experience claircognizance in a more indirect way. Often in a conversation, it's like I'm being supplied with knowledge and words in real-time, seamlessly. Afterward, I’ll think, "How did I know to say that?" or "Where did that come from?" In those moments, I know the words weren’t from my own mind, but came through me.

The same thing happens with writing. I’ll sit down to write some thoughts, and a whole different message will emerge. This is like automatic writing. If you're familiar with the series Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch, he produced them through automatic writing.

The difference is, I don’t usually set out to “channel” anything. It just happens. I’m not asking and waiting for a reply. I’m writing, and suddenly I’m writing something I didn’t plan to.

If you’re curious about hearing from God yourself, I highly recommend automatic writing. It’s one of the easiest ways to start.

Clairvoyance & Clairsentience

Most people are familiar with clairvoyance—we think of psychics with crystal balls. But clear seeing is usually more mundane—seeing images or scenes in your consciousness. Sometimes an image will flash on your "inner screen," and sometimes you’ll see what looks like a little movie clip.

Clairsentience is clear feeling. This might be a sensation that delivers a message. Often for me, it’s combined with another sense—a clairvoyant picture or scene with an unmistakable feeling about what I'm seeing. I'd bet money you've had these experiences—the "vibes" you pick up when someone mentions a name, or a pit in your stomach when deciding between options.

These sensory channels aren’t solely for communication with God. My experience with them is limited apart from our private dialogue. So, for example, while I use my higher senses regularly to receive information, this isn’t the same as a psychic reading. I don’t have a developed ability to pick up information from a variety of sources like most professional psychics do. My “channel” seems to be pretty much reserved for My Maker.

God Speaks Human

When I was a fiery young Christian, the language and concepts I heard or understood sounded Christian. Sometimes I would hear phrases from scripture but suddenly understand them in a way that had never been taught to me. Other times, the phrasing was the same as the vocabulary I used with other members of my religious community.

Over the years, as my understanding of religion broadened, so did my vocabulary. Gradually I stepped back from the worldview I'd known my whole life. I began to recognize the difference between a cultural understanding and a wider reality. As I changed, the way information came to me was different.

What I mean is, if someone only reads the King James Version of the Bible, with all its antiquated "thees" and "thous," when God speaks to them, it will sound like the King James Version of God. If the communication is conceptual, the information will come in familiar metaphors and imagery.

Think about how the conversations with your kids sound different when they are toddlers, teens, and grown adults. The ideas expand. The language evolves. What once was phrased in simple terms becomes a much more nuanced conversation. It’s not that the parents changed (well not primarily, but hopefully they do too), it’s that the cognition of the child develops and matures.

A loving parent speaks to their child in words and ideas that the child can grasp easily. The parent isn’t a toddler when they speak in toddler terms, they’re just being age-appropriate for the benefit of the child.

If you never evolve spiritually, then it’s easy to assume that God’s personality and interests are the same as yours, because you hear and understand in your native style. But for those who evolve, so will God. Because all along, God is just speaking to the frequency you’re at.

In another post, I’ll describe the various versions of God I've known. None of them were a full expression of God; they mirrored my developing perception and level of consciousness, not changes in God.

If you want to know God in a more intimate and meaningful way, you'll find it’s much easier than you might have imagined. In fact, you are probably already interacting in ways you hadn’t noticed because they’ve always been a part of your inner world already. It’s that quiet. That close. That human.

The more aware you become, the more you’ll recognize it. And if you want to build that connection, you can.
I’ll keep sharing my stories—like postcards from my inner travels. I hope something in them sparks your own spiritual adventure.